Diversification goals: Conscious Chemist gears up for product expansion following Lotus Herbals investment

Conscious Chemist is a clean beauty brand founded in 2019 by Robin Gupta and Prakher Mathur that aims to provide consumers with “sustainable botanical skin care”​ products.

On January 20, it was announced that personal care company Lotus Herbals had acquired a 25% stake in the company.

This latest investment would drive the company’s ambitions to expand its line-up of skin care products.

“​We’re going to ramp up our efforts in diversifying our product mix and stretch into more categories this year. We will prioritise our portfolio expansion with the launch of 25 to 30 SKUs this year,”​ said Gupta, CEO of Conscious Chemist.

Gupta told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the upcoming product would be in line with the shift that has occurred in the skin care market over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has forced many consumers to reflect upon self-care and look for medically backed products. Our approach will be consumer-centric.”​

The 2022 launches are just the start of the company’s plans to grow its product line-up.

As part of its long-term vision, the company is aiming to expand into new categories by developing ingestible beauty products and products that are in line with circular beauty standards.

“Our ingredient-led formulations, alongside our commitment to people and the planet, shall always remain our priority. Our R&D team is always looking for innovative and highly functional ingredients that hold potential for new product development.”​

In addition to product expansion, the company is exploring its options in the international market, namely in the US and Europe.

Lotus Herbals comes clean

This investment marked Lotus Herbals’ entry into the clean beauty space, a segment it believed held plenty of opportunities.

“Our investment in Conscious Chemist aligns with our strategy for accelerating growth in the DTC space focused on clean beauty,” ​said Nitin Passi, joint managing director of Lotus Herbals.

“The Indian market has seen a growing interest in conscious consumerism and beauty brands that prioritise the environment over profit. While consumers are harmonising with nature, they are also looking at maximizing efficacy through science to alleviate their specific skin or hair concerns,” ​

Passi added that the investment in Conscious Chemist would also help the firm better understand the needs and concerns of the important millennial and Gen Z demographics.

Furthermore, the firm resonated with Conscious Chemist’s sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.

“Apart from their functionally proven product line, Conscious Chemist also leads the initiatives like contributing a part of their sales to marine life restoration and plastic offsetting in their supply chain. Conscious Chemist strikes the right chord in this evolutionary trend and finds resonance in consumers' growing demand.”​

In the last couple of years, Lotus Herbals has been actively making investments to strengthen its market position and gain entry into new segments

“What is exciting for us are a number of new niche categories sprouting in the beauty industry, some of which can be scalable in the foreseeable future. We have drawn a strategy of either owning such businesses or partnering with passionate founders who need mentoring and access apart from the capital to realise their ambitions.”​

Prior to its investment in Conscious Chemist, Lotus Herbals acquired 100% of the luxury Ayurveda brand SoulTree in September 2020 and it acquired a 32% stake in derma beauty company Fixderma in October 2021.