Key takeaways:
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Starface has raised $2 million in a seed round to grow its brand, which sells hydrocolloid acne patches.
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The brand considers itself part of the “acne positivity” movement, which aims to open up discussions about skin and acne.
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With the money the brand plans to invest in growing its team, expanding into Europe and Canada and developing new products.
The conversation around acne has changed in the last few years, exchanging the long held language of shame and concealment around breakouts with that of candid empowerment. Celebrities and influencers like Lorde, Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber and Kadeeja Khan speak openly about their skin struggles on social media. From clogged pores to cystic acne, the so-called “acne positivity” movement has promoted showing rather than hiding our natural skin.
Now, the trend is creating new business opportunities. Starface, a skincare brand launched in September, has raised $2 million in a seed round led by BBG Ventures following a pre-seed raise of $1 million from investors that included Bobbi Brown.
Founded by former Elle beauty editor Julie Schott and serial entrepreneur Brian Bordainick, the four-person company currently sells just one product: bright yellow “hydro-stars” made of hydrocolloid that absorb the liquid within a pimple, protect blemishes from outside bacteria and prevent people from skin-picking. Packaged in a compact yellow case (prices for packs range from $22-49), the stars look like playful stickers when applied to the skin.
“This category hasn’t been shaken up in a long time so we thought: what if we looked at acne differently and were able to make it optimistic, uplifting and fun, while still [selling something] effective?” says Schott, who has herself struggled with acne.
With many traditional teenage skincare brands failing to resonate with today’s young consumers, there’s a significant opportunity for newer entrants like Starface to fill the space. Nestlé sold off its Skin Health business, whose brands included Proactiv and Cetaphil, last May in response to underperforming sales. St. Ives, the Unilever-owned facial scrub line that was once a staple in teen routines, has been vilified by skincare consumers and dermatologists, who believe its harsh consistency leads to micro-tears in the skin. Investors have their eyes peeled for a brand that can dominate this space in the same way Glossier has for millennials.
“We see quite a few skincare and cosmetics businesses, almost all of which have a conventional lens on the category,” says Andrew Mitchell, founder and general partner of Brand Foundry Ventures, which invested in the latest seed round. “Starface addressed how traditional positioning has stigmatised an experience that’s just part of being human.”
The company, which has seen sales grow roughly 50 per cent month-over-month since launching, plans to use money from the raise to grow its team, invest in product innovation and branch into Canadian and European markets this year. Winning over more regions is critical as Starface finds itself entering an increasingly crowded market. With searches for pimple patches having grown by 56 per cent since this time last year, according to data from consumer research firm Spate, competitors like Peace Out, Hero Cosmetics and ZitSticka have also built entire brands around the item, while brands like K-Beauty favourite CosRX and Nordic skincare line Skyn Iceland now sell their own versions of the non-discrete pimple patch.
Starface’s approach to standing out in the crowded market is best looked at through the lens of its online and offline communities. On social media, Schott’s own platform gave the brand an initial boost, reaching her 121,000 Instagram followers. But rather than make herself the face of the brand, she’s given that job to a cartoon character named “Big Yellow”, inspired by the yellow smiley-face case that its hydro-stars come in. The brand’s social feeds, known for their humorous captions and memes, are in stark contrast to the glowy model close-ups and “shelfies” made popular by other DTC skincare brands like Glossier and Drunk Elephant. Schott cites her own connection to cartoon characters as the inspiration behind the approach.
Since launch, Starface has grown their social media following to a combined 66,000 across Instagram and TikTok, a platform they joined immediately to connect with their core Gen Z audience, which makes up 60 per cent of TikTok’s user base.
“That kind of follower growth is impressive in such a short time period,” says Sean Spielberg, the co-founder of social analytics company Instascreener, which found that the vast majority of the brand’s followers are real people, indicating that they’re not paying to boost their social clout. On Instagram, the brand’s average engagement rate, at 1.95 per cent, is nearly 1.5x higher than the industry benchmark of 0.87 per cent, according to Thomas Rankin, the CEO and co-founder of Dash Hudson.
The brand’s strategy to foster a community also includes real-life events. The brand hosts smaller gatherings, like its recent event that invited customers to get manicures. The result is a more holistic approach to customer outreach that Bordainick and Schott believe customers find refreshing.
These efforts help to build loyalty, despite the highly targeted nature of their product line. For now, that niche focus is considered an advantage in the competitive skincare market. “When we look at the top emerging brands in search data, we’re seeing that niche brands are taking over, especially those that are turning products into a category of their own,” says Yarden Horwitz, the co-founder of Spate.
Brands with one hero product, however, inevitably have to branch out to grow their business. According to Starface investor and BBG Ventures president Susan Lyne, who believes the company can “become the go-to skincare brand for Gen Z” with the right distribution, the brand has six new products targeted for young skin slated to launch this year. Over the next few months, Starface plans to roll out two limited-edition spins on the original hydro-stars but declined to comment on what other acne-centric products they will launch.
“There’s something to be said for staying in your lane,” says Julia Talisman, a beauty brand consultant who has worked for Maybelline and Nars. “So many brands launch too many products or sublines just for the sake of it, but a brand can’t be everything to everyone.”
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