Science-Driven Professional Skincare Brand Epicutis Raises $10M In Series B Funding To Fuel Expansion

Epicutis, the science-driven luxury professional skincare brand, has raised $10 million in series B funding to fuel its next phase of growth.

The brand didn’t disclose the investor in its series B round, but described it as a single insider who’s a longstanding board member and was an original backer. The series B funding follows $3 million in series A funding it secured in October 2024, also from an insider, according to Epicutis. The latest funding will support expansion of international distribution, product innovation, marketing and infrastructure.

Industry sources project Epicutis will hit $35 million in revenues this year and $75 million next year. The brand’s sales have consistently accelerated at a 200% rate. It reports its reorder rate is 65%. In today’s market, beauty investors typically zero in on brands with an over 30% repurchase rate.

Epicutis has science interwoven into its history. Launched in 2020, the brand is an outgrowth of Signum Biosciences, a company Jeffry Stock, a molecular biologist and Princeton University professor started in 2003 to sell cosmetic ingredients. In 2008, Signum signed investment and licensing ingredients with Japanese company Rohto Pharmaceutical to commercialize ingredients in Japan.

Jeffry’s son, Maxwell, established Epicutis with the help of Masanori Tamura, VP of development and chief formulator who created the bestselling Japanese line Hada Labo, and Lisa Johnson, Signum’s president of sales and marketing. He positioned it at the intersection of three trends he saw exploding: clinical skincare, the aesthetics market and clean, simplified beauty.

“The product line is really intentional. Epicutis only has the highest quality ingredients in the formulas,” says Maxwell. “It’s a real skin health product. We don’t talk about aging, we just talk about skin health.”

“We don’t talk about aging, we just talk about skin health.”

He estimates Epicutis has poured close to $20 million into the technology that’s the centerpiece of its products—and it’s not stopping. The investment has been instrumental in the development of three patented ingredients it uses in its formulas: tetramethylhexadecenyl succinoyl cysteine (TSC), which shields the skin barrier from environmental aggressors, Hyvia, a moisturizing agent and inflammation and fine line fighter, and disodium s-phytyl diglycoloylcysteine (DSD), a skin vitality booster.

“Beauty gets really caught up in marketing and advertisement. Advertisement is really important, but it can’t be the driver,” says Maxwell. “What has to be the driver is innovation. I think biotechnology is the future of skincare.”

Epicutis began with two products, Lipid Serum and Hyvia Crème, and has since enlarged its assortment to nine products priced from $75 to $250. The brand’s formulas are free of synthetic fragrances, manufactured domestically and designed to do a lot with a little. Maxwell points out that its star product, $250 Lipid Serum, has eight ingredients. He says, “If you go look at the ingredients we’ve included in our formulations, they’re backed up by peer-reviewed scientific publications, not a white paper that we put out.”

The newest product is $75 Hydrobiome Mist, which sold out during pre-sale a month ago and made its official debut Wednesday. Epicutis has two additional products slated for the remainder of the year. A sunscreen is scheduled for an August release.

Maxwell underscores that Epicutis’s products are applicable to both at-home routines and post-treatment protocols for aesthetics destinations. Longer term, he says prescription medications are in Epicutis’s pipeline. It’s working on a medication for pediatric eczema. “It’s a real unmet need,” he says. “Now, the standard of care for a 12-month-old with eczema is topical steroids.”

Epicutis is available at roughly 3,500 spas and med-spas, notably spas at Montage and Four Seasons locations. The brand is leaning into the professional channel as med-spas are proliferating, and it has about 30 sales representatives in a field team dedicated to spas and med-spas. The American Med Spa Association estimates the number of med-spas in the United States will go from 10,488 in 2023 to some 11,550 this year.

“Biotechnology is the future of skincare.”

“I see the professional channel is continuing to rapidly grow. I think it’s going to become the dominant skincare channel. It’s where all the experts are,” says Maxwell. “You’ve had the death of department stores. I think a lot of people went to a department store and talked with a beautician to educate themselves on these different skincare lines, and that went away.”

The skincare experts that use and sell Epicutis have been integral to raising awareness of the brand. In November last year, the brand was identified by search intelligence platform Spate as among 15 top-growing indie beauty search volume leaders. At the time, Maxwell says Epicutis hadn’t paid a single influencer to promote it, but had seeded products to aestheticians and makeup artists to share their honest thoughts. With the series B funding, the plan is to increase ad buying targeting skincare clinicians.

“We’re going to be very circumspect about it. I don’t want to just throw a bunch of money. The real way that we get people to become aware of our brand is through our sales team being out in the field,” says Maxwell. “We’re not a direct-to-consumer brand. That’s something that we’re very proud of. You can buy the product off of our website, but, then, when you go to check out, you have to choose a clinician, and we give that sale back to the clinician.”

Currently, international sales account for around 10% of Epicutis’s total business, and it generates international sales through a distributor. The brand stretches into 16 countries. Maxwell believes it’s merely scratching the surface of its global potential and mentions many countries have nascent professional skincare channels where Epicutis can be an early mover. Its immediate focus abroad is the APAC region and Australia in particular.

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