By Deanna Utroske. This article originally appeared on Cosmetic Design on June 20, 2019.
Codex is a global beauty collective with plans to bring numerous science-backed, clean beauty brands to market. The collective's first line, called Bia, launched just this week and is already a brand worth watching.
Bia is new to US market. But thanks to its foundation as a founder-led clean beauty brand, funding and support from a specialized VC fund, and a retail deal with one of the most well-regarded beauty discovery stores, Bia is poised to be an important brand in the clean beauty and wellness marketplace.
The brand
Codex acquired Bia, a brand developed in Ireland by Tracey Ryan, in August of last year. And Bia product formulations take local Irish herbalist traditions into consideration. "Bia products are made from the purest, most time-tested ingredients on the planet, providing tangible results with clean product profiles," says Ryan, now Europe director and master formulator at Codex Beauty.
The investors
Barbara Paldus, founder and CEO, of the Codex Beauty collective is also a founding partner of the venture capital fund known as Sekhmet Ventures. The fund is dedicated to supporting brands with Seed through Series B investments and is targeting brands in clean beauty and wellness.
Early this month, Sekhmet announced "closing the Series A round of its portfolio partner Codex Beauty LLC. "At that time Jacqueline Kissenpfennig, chief international business officer at Codex, explained how the beauty venture fits in the Sekhmet portfolio of clean, science-backed brands, saying, "In the beauty and wellness space, there often exists an idea that 'completely natural' and 'scientifically derived' are mutually exclusive product attributes. With our diverse team of experts and proprietary development processes, Codex Beauty is able to bridge that gap and offer products that are efficacious and are derived from the best plant ingredients our world has to offer." Read more about Sekhmet Ventures and their investments here on Cosmetics Design.
The retailer
Today, Codex announced it's first retail partnership, a deal with the acclaimed Brooklyn boutique SHEN Beauty. "We are delighted to be partnering with SHEN Beauty for the US launch," Paid us, tells the press, adding, "SHEN not only understands clean and effective skincare brands, but carefully curates its new collections. We are excited about the depth of education that SHEN provides its customers about its product portfolio and skin care health."