Southeast Asia cosmetics brand Y.O.U raises $40m

Other investors include SIG, Gaorong Capital, ATM Capital, eWTP Arabia Capital, and M31 Capital. The proceeds will go towards an expansion of the company's store network, R&D, global supply chain development, and recruitment.

Y.O.U was established in Indonesia in 2018 by a founding team primarily comprising executives from Chinese smart phone manufacturer Oppo. It now has 40,000 sales points across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Y.O.U's make-up products include skincare features and are tailored to suit Indonesian skin types. It uses safe and effective ingredients sourced globally, while leveraging China's manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies to ensure rapid product iteration, high quality, and relatively lost cost.

“In Southeast Asian markets, especially Indonesia, high entry barriers make it impossible for overseas products to establish themselves quickly. This provides an excellent opportunity for local brands with strong channel-expansion abilities," the founding team of Y.O.U said in a statement.

The make-up industry in Malaysia and Indonesia will see nearly 10% annual growth in revenue over the next five years, according to Mintel. For Southeast Asia as a whole, the market will be worth USD 300bn by 2025.

"We have been focusing on investments in the ecosystem of ‘going overseas,' especially brands that rely on China's high-quality supply chain but establish local teams for commercialisation and R&D," said Dongfang Hao, chairman and managing partner of Hidden Hill.

"In just three years, Y.O.U’s has become an established brand in local market. We expect the company to become part of a new generation of leading beauty enterprises."

Other private equity-backed companies in this space include Social Bella, which rose to prominence in Indonesia as an omnichannel distributor for other beauty brands but now wants to develop some of its own. L Catterton led a USD 56m round for Social Bella last year.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Southeast Asia
• Southeast Asia
• China
• Hidden Hill Capital
• Gaorong Capital
• SIG
• M31 Capital