In 2025, investors are no longer fond of beauty brands.
Beauty brands are losing their allure.
Recently, L'Oréal Group's minority equity investment in Chinese pure skincare brand LAN has sparked extensive attention in the industry. However, this is also the only publicly disclosed financing case of a beauty brand last month. The remaining invested companies are all upstream raw material companies. Juw Wei Sheng Wu, which officially announced its Series A+ investment last week, is also a synthetic biological raw material manufacturer.
In fact, looking at the whole picture from January to November this year, less than 20% of beauty companies/brands have received investment and financing. A large amount of hot money has flowed into upstream beauty raw material companies. What kind of industry changes does this reflect?
Beauty investment and financing: Brand merchants are out of favor
According to incomplete statistics by Qingyan, from January to November this year, a total of 71 investment, financing, acquisition and merger events have occurred in the domestic cosmetics-related fields. Judging from the types of invested brands/companies, the largest number is raw material companies, with a total of 43 cases, accounting for more than 60.6%. This fully shows that the upstream raw materials of cosmetics have become a track that the capital market is competing to invest in.
Different from the upstream beauty companies being favored by capital, since this year, the phenomenon of domestic beauty brand merchants receiving investment has been a bit cold. Among the 71 investment, financing, acquisition and merger events sorted out above, there are only 14 beauty brand merchants, accounting for less than 20%.
Specifically, from January to November this year, the beauty brand merchants that received financing include categories such as personal care, skincare, and makeup. Among them, First Cover You Yi and Zhu Zhan respectively received 2 rounds of financing this year.
According to public reports, First Cover You Yi received an angel round investment in the hundreds of millions level led by Matrix Partners China in January this year. Then in April, the equity of its parent company, Wujiehang (Shanghai) Cosmetics Co., Ltd., changed again. Cathay Capital Consumer Innovation Fund became its third largest shareholder by subscribing for 157,000 yuan and holding 10.8% of the shares of Wujiehang.
It is reported that First Cover You Yi was established in 2024 and claims to be China's first functional base makeup brand. It is committed to breaking the boundary between traditional makeup and skincare and providing products with both skincare and makeup functions. It is the youngest among the 14 brands/companies.
Zhu Zhan, established in 2020, is positioned as a pure beauty brand. The brand announced in May this year that it had completed nearly 100 million yuan in Series A and Series A+ financing. The Series A+ was led by Shuiyang Co., Ltd., and Jiebai Consumption Fund followed the investment.
In addition, among the beauty brands that received investment, another brand that has been established for less than two years is the mid - to high - end anti - aging brand Corex, which adheres to the concept of "systematic anti - aging" and has launched products such as the Brightening Series and the Weaving Series.
In January this year, KK Group, a leading domestic trendy retail enterprise, became the sixth largest shareholder of Hangzhou Yixiang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Corex. The former subscribed for approximately 588,200 yuan, holding 2.5% of the shares.
And the oldest one is the Chando Group. The group was established in 2001 and owns multiple beauty brands such as Chando, Florasis, and Spring & Summer. It is a well - known domestic beauty group. On September 30 this year, the prospectus of the Chando Group for its listing in Hong Kong showed that Jiahua Capital, L'Oréal Group and others made an equity investment of more than 700 million yuan in the group.
Overall, among the beauty brand merchants that received investment and financing this year, functional skincare brands still dominate. For example, Fu Yu Man Pu, PMD Huan Yan Le Ju, Aupres, Corex, LAN, etc. all focus on "functional skincare". There are only 3 hair and body care brands, namely Zhou Fen, Yu Jian, and Siyu Industrial. Makeup brands include First Cover You Yi, Zhu Zhan, and Huaxizhao.
It is worth mentioning that GREENLAB is the only men's beauty brand that has received investment since this year. Public information shows that in August this year, the brand completed nearly 10 million yuan in Pre - A round financing, invested by Hexiang Venture Capital. The funds are planned to be used for new product R & D, mass production, and brand building.
It is understood that GREENLAB was established in 2023 and launched its first product in June 2024. The brand is positioned as an invisible facial grooming brand, aiming to meet the needs of "refined and lazy" male users. According to Qingyan Intelligence data, GREENLAB ranked first among men's makeup brands in the first half of 2025 (calculated by the GMV market share of major online channels). At present, GREENLAB's "Original Primer" has become its main product.
Although the investment and financing enthusiasm in the domestic beauty field this year has increased compared with the past two years (55 cases in 2024 and 56 cases in 2023), overall, the hot money still flows mainly to the upstream field, and there are not many cases of brand - side companies receiving financing.
In addition to raw material suppliers and beauty brand merchants, a small number of channel providers or service providers in the beauty industry also received financing this year. Such as Lan Nuoxi, a beauty supplies wholesale supply chain provider; HydraFacial, a beauty service brand; and Aoyuan Meigu, a technology, material, and service provider in the beauty and health industry.
Billion - level investments are on par with last year
Overall, from January to November 2025, the financing in the beauty field includes not only early - stage financing such as seed rounds, angel rounds, and Pre - A rounds, but also growth - stage financing such as Series B+ and Series C, as well as mature - stage capital operations such as strategic investments and equity financing.
This fully shows that capital is systematically deploying the beauty industry chain. From the technology R & D of start - up companies to the capacity expansion of mature companies, companies at all development stages have received financial support.
In terms of financing amount, among the 71 investment and financing cases, 53 companies disclosed their financing amounts. Among them, 31 companies had financing of less than 100 million yuan, accounting for 43.1%, and the vast majority were in the tens of millions level.
In addition, 15 companies such as Merck KGaA, Jinbo Biotech, Chando Group, Aoyuan Meigu, Liying Biotech, Redlen, and Yinuoji Ke received investments and financings of over 100 million yuan, accounting for 21.1%. Among them, Global New Materials International's acquisition of Merck KGaA for approximately 5.6 billion yuan is the largest acquisition case in the domestic beauty raw material field this year. It is worth mentioning that during the same period last year (January - November), there were also 15 domestic beauty companies that received investments and financings of over 100 million yuan, the same number as this year.
In addition, some companies/brands received investments of less than 10 million yuan. For example, Taiyuan Biotech received a 3.5 million yuan strategic investment from Lafaso in April this year; Andeputai, a natural products and personal care R & D platform, received a 5 million yuan equity investment from Bawei Co., Ltd.
Interestingly, these two investment cases also show from the side that some powerful cosmetics brands and factories have begun to extend their investment tentacles to the upstream raw material field.
Functional raw materials are still the king
Among the invested upstream companies, companies with the R & D and production capabilities of functional raw materials are still the focus of capital attention.
Typically, in April this year, Jin San Biotech, which received an investment of 100 million yuan, is committed to producing high - purity ergothioneine and is a leading supplier in the global antioxidant active raw material ergothioneine field. It is understood that ergothioneine is mainly used as an antioxidant in cosmetics and has multiple effects such as anti - aging and whitening.
In October this year, Jiangsu Meishangjie Biotechnology, which announced the completion of Series A+ financing, is a high - tech enterprise focusing on the R & D of anti - aging skincare products. It is reported that the company has established multiple brands such as the hospital - end brand "Youbeiruikang", the medical aesthetics sub - brand "Yikemei", and the skincare sub - brand "Anjishi", and has cooperated with well - known beauty brands in the industry to apply mussel adhesive protein in the fields of skin, mucous membrane, and melanin treatment.
Generally speaking, although upstream raw material suppliers were in a relatively weak position in the industry chain and received less attention from the capital market in the early years. However, in recent years, due to various reasons such as the industry's emphasis on raw material innovation and regulatory changes, raw material companies with high scientific research capabilities have become the darlings of capital.
50% of invested raw material companies focus on synthetic biology
It should be noted that companies in the synthetic biology field are still a popular investment track in the domestic beauty field. Among the 43 upstream companies that received financing from January to November this year, there were as many as 20 investment and financing cases in the beauty raw material field related to synthetic biology, accounting for more than 46.5%.
Typically, among the 4 investment and financing events in the raw material field that occurred in November this year, the invested companies are all from the synthetic biology field. It is reported that these 4 companies are Juw Wei Sheng Wu, Huarong Biotech, Xiushi Biotech, and Zhonghe Gene respectively.
Among them, the youngest company is Juw Wei Sheng Wu, which was established on May 16, 2024. Public information shows that the company was jointly established by the team of Academician Chen Jian from Jiangnan University and the team of Professor Cheng Jianhua from South China University of Technology. It is a green synthetic biological raw material manufacturer. The company focuses on bioactive sugars and provides solutions for functional innovative raw materials. Its business mainly involves fields such as beauty and daily chemicals, functional foods, and medical aesthetics and medicine.
It is understood that Juw Wei Sheng Wu mainly focuses on the field of skin microbiome research, and its products include ultra - low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, Galacto G galacto - yeast fermentation product filtrate, and new maltotetraose. At present, the company has reached cooperation with beauty brands such as Dr. Alva, Marubi, and Fuerjia.
It is worth mentioning that before this Series A+ financing, in November last year, Juw Wei Sheng Wu had completed 2 rounds of financing, with a total amount of tens of millions of yuan. It can be seen that the company has received 3 rounds of investment in just one and a half years since its establishment.
Meanwhile, synthetic biology companies such as Redlen, Meishangjie Biotechnology, Weiming Shiguang, Zhinuo Technology, Junhemeng, Yisite Biotech, and Juyuan Biotech also received investments ranging from tens of millions to nearly 100 million yuan in the first 11 months of this year.
Overall, among these synthetic biology companies that received financing, Redlen received the highest financing amount. According to public reports, in February this year, the company announced the completion of over 500 million yuan in financing, with investors including Songhe Capital, Cornerstone Capital, Changde Xingxin, Baiyin Kejian, and Changde Deyuan. Redlen was established in 2017 and is one of the earliest synthetic biology companies to introduce artificial intelligence technology into enzyme engineering. At present, it has achieved large - scale production of peptide raw materials such as glutathione, carnosine, and semaglutide.
It can be seen that in recent years, synthetic biology has been more and more involved in the cosmetics industry. For example, recombinant collagen, astaxanthin, resveratrol, glycosides, squalene, ethanol, butanol, glycerol, and organic acids are all cosmetic raw materials that can be developed by synthetic biotechnology. Due to its characteristics of breaking through biological raw material limitations, accelerating production efficiency, and being environmentally friendly, synthetic biology companies have become a new focus favored by the cosmetics industry.
It is worth mentioning that some synthetic biology companies received 2 rounds of financing this year. Typically, Veminsyn, established in 2022, announced the completion of strategic financing and Series B+ financing in May and September this year respectively. Its investors include industry - leading beauty groups and well - known investment institutions such as L'Oréal Group, Nice Group, Huatai Genscript, and Haibang Investment.
According to public reports, Veminsyn has successfully developed "Time - Col17", the first type XVII collagen peptide raw material included in the PCPC, and has achieved mass production and applied it to the products of multiple beauty brands.
Undoubtedly, synthetic biology is one of the hottest tracks in recent years, attracting high attention from governments, academia, the industry, and the capital circle around the world. In the beauty field, Chen Jian once publicly stated that "synthetic biology should be the easiest and fastest to be implemented in the cosmetics field."
It can be said that the technological innovation at the raw material end represented by synthetic biology is becoming a key factor in promoting the upgrading of the beauty industry. Therefore, many companies focusing on the "synthetic biology" field have received a large amount of capital favor.
Therefore, different from the cold situation of beauty brand investments, the investment and financing of upstream raw material companies are in full swing, and among them, the hottest is the synthetic biology field.