Beauty company Oddity to acquire AI biotech startup Revela for $76 million

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here. Oddity, the parent company of US beauty brands Il Makiage and Spoiled Child, has agreed to acquire AI-based biotechnology company Revela for $76 million and will invest a further $25 million in building an R&D centre in Boston, the company announced on Thursday. The move comes as the beauty and wellness platform looks to strengthen its science-backed product development and bring “pharma-grade technology” to the market. Oddity plans to create a biotechnology R&D centre, named Oddity Labs, to power its product innovation “through the discovery and development of molecules, probiotics, peptides, and other biological modalities”, a statement reads. With the acquisition of Revela, Oddity is betting on its patented technology, such as its AI-based molecule discovery tool — a multi-step screening process, which allows Revela to identify and test molecules — to bring new ingredients to the market. Revela’s current ingredients include ProCelinyl, a molecule that supports hair growth, and Fibroquin, another molecule that promotes skin elasticity and plumpness. The new R&D centre will be spearheaded by Revela’s founding team, including co-founder and CEO Dr Evan Zhao, who will hold the position of chief scientific officer. “We have seen the transformational powers of biotechnology and artificial intelligence on drug discovery, and are unleashing these technologies in the beauty and wellness space with massive investment,” said Oran Holtzman, co-founder and CEO of Oddity. “While our competitors are stuck in the past, adding Revela will allow us to build the future of R&D for the category.” A number of beauty giants including Unilever, Estée Lauder and L’Oréal are already experimenting with AI technology. Unilever uses AI to “help identify alternative ingredients that can strengthen the resilience of our supply chain, making our formulations more sustainable and cost-efficient”, a company blog post reads. Others such as Mac Cosmetics has worked with photo editing app YouCam since 2017 to introduce virtual makeup try-ons, allowing users to test products on various skin tones and textures. “Advances in computation and molecular biology have ushered in a new era of discovery and development,” said Zhao, who is now Revela’s CEO. “We believe this technology, which is already widely used in pharma for drug discovery, allows us to create targeted and highly efficacious products across an unlimited range of consumer needs, and do it with a speed and efficiency that the industry has never seen before.” The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com. More from this author: Should brands care about new photo-sharing app Lemon8? Post-SPAC, Lanvin Group sales rise 37% to €422 million Peruvian designers offer blueprint for sustainable supply chain

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