Kumuya was founded by GTCL, a Singapore-based wellness company that owns two brands in the health food space – Anaya and Pili Pushers.
The brand debut mid-2020 with two plant-based skin care products – the Rejuvenate Nutri-Serum Concentrate and Illuminate Nutri-Serum Concentrate to tackle skin ageing and skin brightening respectively.
Both products were researched and developed in Sweden and produced in the US.
This is the company’s first foray into the beauty and personal care space, which it believes is a natural extension of its business.
“It’s part of why we launched our business in the first place. We want people to live their lives well, live longer and live more beautifully,” said Co-founder Gary Chin.
Most recently, the company announced that beginning in March, it would launch the Kumuya Skin Wellness Meal Plan, a personalised breakdown of what you should eat based on your skin concerns.
The meal plan covers seven major skin care concerns such as acne, ageing, eczema and hyperpigmentation.
For $39.90, the brand will provide its customer with a personalised seven-day meal plan with three suggested meals and snacks, recipes for each meal as well as a grocery list.
Aside from skin concerns, the meals are also based on the individual’s dietary preferences, BMI and weight goals.
Chin told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that the idea for the meal plan came from the company’s belief in holistic wellness.
“We’ve been in the wellness space for seven years and have been advocative nutritive health from a food perspective. What we do is look at skin care from an overall wellness perspective. It’s not just about what you apply, it’s about what you eat as well.”
The meal plans are based on the company’s research into skin health and ingredients, particularly Asian ingredients, said Chin.
“The meal plans are meant to facilitate the consumption of foods for certain skin concerns. We’ve done a lot of research to identify which foods are beneficial for certain skin conditions. For example, you have eczema, salmon and ginkgo biloba would be good for you.”
In addition to the meal plan, the company will also be publishing a book about skin wellness and food somewhere in the second quarter of the year.
The company believes it can tap into the awareness of health and wellness, which has been increasing because of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we look at how the world is evolving right now, there’s a lot more focus on health and wellness. It’s not something we predicted, but it’s a coincidence. COVID-19 was a reminder that a lot of us have ignored our health,” said Chin.
In addition, the company is also planning to launch new skin care products this year.
While Chin was coy about details of the products, he hinted that it would extend its current line-up and create a skin care system that supports the whole notion of skin wellness and nutrition.
Currently, the products are undergoing development trials and the company expects to launch them by the fourth quarter this year.
Chin added that the company was confident in the new products as it had recently obtained very positive results for its first two products which underwent independent testing.
“We were blown away by the amazing results. Our Rejuvenate Nutri-Serum Concentrate was found to reduce cell ageing by 69% and Illuminate Nutri-Serum Concentrate was found to reduce melanin production by 25%. It supports our decision to use plant-derived ingredients.”
Next stop: China and US
The company believes Kumuya holds global potential. Aside from Singapore, the brand is also available in China and the US.
“China has been going very well for us. The feedback we receive is that the Chinese like our products because they ‘smell safe’. While we don’t have a distributor in the US, we are available in a small way through a retailer,” said Chin.
While the company does have plans for expansion, Chin said it would focus more on its new launches this year.
“We are certainly interested in expansion. The US, in particular, is the next one for us because in terms of awareness, acceptance and demand we believe there is a real opportunity, but we need the bandwidth.”
He added: “This year it’s about growing the breath first. We’re launching the meal plan, the book and more products – so we don’t’ want to bite of more than we can chew.