Gallinée, which pioneered microbiome beauty by developing and marketing and innovative skincare range focusing on the skin’s microflora, has secured a major investment from Unilever Ventures.
Founded in London in 2016 by Marie Drago, a French pharmacist with 15 years’ experience working for successful skincare brands, Gallinée was inspired by Marie’s history with autoimmune diseases and her desire to create products that support the skin’s “good bacteria”. Her pharmacy thesis was the basis for the patented combination of probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics that are the core of the Gallinée range.
Gallinée targets the skin’s protective ecosystem - the microbiome - through a complex of prebiotics, probiotics, and lactic acid, based on the latest research in microbiology. Designed with sensitive skin in mind - and now tested successfully for atopy-prone skin - the brand has been stocked since April 2016 in Harvey Nichols, and is now available in department stores and pharmacies in France and the UK, as well as online. It will soon be available on Zalando Germany and QVC France, as it builds a cult following amongst beauty professionals and consumers alike.
“We have been impressed by Gallinée’s level of innovation and consistency. It is rare to find such young brands with the right mix of science and consumer focus,” commented Anna Ohlsson-Baskerville, Director with Unilever Ventures.
The investment is Unilever Ventures’ inaugural foray into microbiome-based products, a key beauty trend in 2018 and a major revolution in health, and a new field of research in dermatology for the treatment of acne and eczema and other disorders.
“I am delighted to welcome Unilever Ventures as an investor,” says Marie Drago. “It is such a great honour for a young company, and their expertise will be invaluable for us. It will allow us to keep innovating in the microbiome field though new studies and products, expand our online business and extend to new territories, especially the US.”
Investment from Unilever Ventures, along with other strategic partners, will be used to develop the team, extend the range and finance R&D. Gallinée plans to double-down on e-commerce, hire an experienced Head of E-Commerce and expand its global direct retail operation.
