Skincare company Uncover to enter the Nigerian market: Raises $1m seed funding
Uncover, a skincare company based in Kenya, has reported that it has secured USD $1 million in seed funding, which it will use to expand its operations in Nigeria and Kenya and build a footprint throughout Africa.
A number of angel investors as well as FirstCheck Africa, Samata Capital, Future Africa, IgniteXL, and others are important investors.
Eloho Omame, co-founder and general partner of FirstCheck Africa, commented on the funding, saying: “Since we invested, the company’s growth has been amazing, and the team is already working on its third country entry. The FirstCheck Africa team is honored to have contributed to Uncover early on.
Uncover co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sneha Mehta said “We are so proud of this important milestone in our journey and couldn’t be more excited to have our new investors as partners. The funds will be used to fund the launching of more products, going into additional markets and also improving on our tech and data to effectively produce, reach and market to our audience” .
Jade Oyateru, co-founder of Uncover and its chief operating officer, stated that the company’s mission is to guarantee that African women have access to high-quality, reasonably priced skincare products that are designed to address their individual skin conditions. “We are making African women a priority and not an afterthought. I am excited that this investment will aid our expansion plans to markets on the continent,” she said.
“The rapid traction we’ve seen in 24 months since launch is testament to the need for healthy, safe and affordable women’s health products specifically made for women of color combined with digitally enabled customer education and product discovery tools,”
Uncover is a data-driven, digital-first women’s brand created exclusively to target women’s health and wellness in Africa, the world’s fastest-growing but most underserved beauty personal care sector. Uncover was established out of a worldwide VC accelerator (Antler).
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In order to create stability testing, secure ingredients, and formulas for its products, Uncover uses African botanicals and outsources its manufacture to the Republic of Korea (South Korea), one of the largest markets for beauty products in the world.
By doing this, Ms. Oyateru added, “we have made sure that our products are safe, nourishing, inexpensive, and efficient and specifically made for women in Africa.
Mehta, Jade Oyateru (Chief Operations Officer), and Catherine Lee (advisor) co-founded Uncover after being motivated to create a data-driven, digital-first health and wellness business for the African woman using their combined experience and knowledge.
Oyateru is an expert in consumer goods and nutrition, while Mehta has more than 10 years of expertise assisting firms in Africa. As a former economist, Lee now works in cinema. “Sneha, Jade and Catherine are an impressive trio of ambitious female entrepreneurs building a differentiated, first-of-its-kind company in Africa. Uncover’s products are an innovative blend of Korean skincare technology and African ingredients, and the founders are leveraging data and community to build a category leader with global potential,” Ms. Omame concluded.
