The NX NIVEA Accelerator goes into the next round

The first batch of start-ups have successfully finished their journey with the NX NIVEA Accelerator of Beiersdorf Korea. The concept was ultimately proven when Beiersdorf announced the investment into one of these first start-ups in December 2019, namely LYCL Inc., a promising beauty tech company with an innovative business model. But how has the NX Accelerator developed since then and with which start-ups is NIVEA entering the second round?

“Although we only launched the NX Accelerator last year, we feel a great dynamic for the program,” says Endrik Hasemann, General Manager Korea and co-founder of the NX NIVEA Accelerator. “The Korean start-up ecosystem is one of the most competitive in the world. With NX we have already achieved a unique market position as the first global beauty accelerator in Korea.” Now it’s time to write the next chapter in this success story. After another round of intensive evaluation and screening of more than 250 candidates, the international, cross-functional NX jury has decided on the five following new start-ups:

• BEIGIC – Minimalistic vegan skincare brand, powered by coffee
  
  
• ICE CREATIVE – Leading beauty influencer network with D2C beauty brands
  
  
• FEMMUE – Premium face care brand inspired by flower therapy
  
  
• WOOHWAMAN – Innovation platform for co-creation with beauty consumers
  
  
• AIONCO – A B2B platform for global e-commerce of Korean skin care brands 
  

With the first batch of start-ups from last year, the NX team gained important experience, which was also essential for the further development of the Accelerator. “We experimented a lot. The selected start-ups were very different – both in their business models as well as in size and stage of development,” says Jacek Brozda, co-founder of the NX NIVEA Accelerator. “For the second round, we found that the collaboration with the start-ups has added value for both sides, especially when they have reached the accelerator stage, i.e. when they already have a proven business model and a certain growth dynamic. The basic framework must be in place. Then we take care of the fine-tuning.”

The new five NX startups will start their program in July 2020 for one-year acceleration. During this period, all startups are eligible for collaboration projects and mentoring from Beiersdorf. The first projects are already in alignment on local and regional levels. In addition, investment opportunities for the startups will be evaluated in exchange with Beiersdorf’s OSCAR&PAUL Venture Capital unit.

“At the moment we are still focusing on Korea to strengthen our position as the leading beauty accelerator, because Korea has one of the most advanced landscapes for beauty start-ups in the world,” Brozda continues. This does not mean, however, that the potential of other Asian markets is being ignored. “Considering what we have achieved in Korea within a year, I am confident that the team has the capabilities and the agility to become the number one beauty accelerator in Asia by 2022.”

Since 2014, Catarina has been responsible for Beiersdorf's digital corporate presence, from social media and our corporate blog to the global corporate websites. As a communications strategist with a focus on digital, she also works on lots of buzzwords such as #digitalstorytelling, #influencerrelations and the #digitalization at Beiersdorf. Prior to that, she has been responsible since 2008 for various financial, HR and scientific communications topics as well as global brands PR.