Stepping up: Lillycover to expand into hair care and make-up this year following $4m fundraise

The funding round, held late August, was led by POSCO Capital, TBT Partners, IBK and KITE Entrepreneurship Foundation.

Founder and CEO SunHee An told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the funding it received was “more than we expected” ​and that it would be using the new funds to expand its business.

She elaborated that the funding will help the company in “stepping up efforts”​ to improve its products and services.

“​We will use the funding to expand Lillycover’s overall business, especially for the smart factory system for manufacturing customised products in small quantity as it needs to be advanced to have a mass production system,” ​she said.

Founded in 2016, Lillycover specialises in personalised beauty and is one of the five start-ups selected to join Beiersdorf-backed beauty acceleration program, Nivea Accelerator (NX).

An, a computer engineering graduate with experience in the medical field, developed MUILLI, a smart skin care device.

MUILLI works with big data and artificial intelligence algorithms to understand their skin type. Based on this analysis, consumers can receive fully customised skin care products on a subscription service.

The company also developed ENIMA, a custom cosmetics kiosk that is fitted with a robotic manufacturing system.

Lillycover also owns BalanX, a skin care brand that ties up with the ENIMA manufacturing system, allowing consumers to receive tailored products that are freshly made and delivered on the spot.

Product expansion on the way​

With the funding, the company is intending to expand its product offering and introduce new product categories as well.

Currently, the company only offers two customised skin care products under the Balanx label – a lotion and an essence.

An revealed to us that the firm was set to launch an exciting list of personalised beauty products this year.

For a start, Lillycover with be expanding its skin care range and introducing scalp care this fall. By the end of this year, the firm intends to launch a colour cosmetics range as well.

“We are currently working on the products for the scalp to include customised shampoo and hair tonic as well as skin and toner for facial skin care. In winter, we plan to expand our current product line-up to cosmetics with customised foundation products.”​

In addition, the company will be looking to increase its manpower and invest in marketing both locally and globally.

The company said it would be actively exploring opportunities in foreign markets such as Japan, China and South East Asia.

“We will continue to develop and provide a regular subscription service based on big data and artificial intelligence algorithms. We look forward to leveraging NX’s global network and resources to help fuel our business,” ​said An.

Previously, CosmeticsDesign-Asia reported​ that Lillycover is aspiring to tap into what it believes is a global demand for personalised beauty and that it would be interested in entering the European market.