AI-driven skin care startup Atolla expands ingredient portfolio
This month Atolla announced the addition of 2 new actives and 20 “supporting ingredients,” as Meghan Maupin, CEO and Co-Founder, tells Cosmetics Design.
When the brand launched in August of 2019, Atolla offered just one product: serum. And that’s still true today. But Maupin says that in early 2021, the brand will expand to offer customized cleaners and moisturizers too.
Asked to explain how the tech behind the brand determines what product format comes next, Mauphin say, “We will let the data guide us to what’s next, based on what we learn about our existing customers routines. For example, is there a category, like sunscreen or eye cream, where our customers have not yet found a product they love and might need a custom solution?”
New ingredients for more nuanced skin care from Atolla
Initially, Atolla formulated with “around 21 active ingredients,” Maupin tells Cosmetics Design. “The ‘primary’ actives,” she says, “were Hyaluronic Acid, Salicylic Acid, Vitamin C, Alpha Arbutin, Diacetyl Boldine, Rumex Occidentalis Extract, and Coconut Extract.”
Now this month Atolla “added 2 key primary actives to our library: Retinol and Peptides, as well as 20 additional supporting ingredients,” including Prickly Pear Extract, Ferulic Acid, Willow Bark, Safflower Seed Oil, Ginger Root Extract, Apricot Kernel Oil, Retinol, and more.
“These new ingredients were based on multiple data points from existing customers including skin test data (oil, moisture, pH), their top skin concerns and goals, and unmet needs in their existing product routine,” explains Maupin.
“As part of the Atolla user experience, we capture data on the other products people are using (including other retinol products) and how they rate them. Through this data, we identified wrinkles / fine lines as a skin concern area we could innovate in using our patented model.”
Leveraging consumer data to formulate next-generation skin care
Data is a core commodity in the cosmetics and personal care industry in 2020. And while it’s still easy to equate new tech and innovation with younger consumers, Maupin and her team at Atolla has found that the AI-driven brand is popular with another demographic.
“Our core customer demo has shift slightly to now align with a 30+ year old demographic. When we first launched, we had success scaling the business with customers in their 20s, but have found the woman interested in wrinkle prevention (usually starting at age 30) to be an amazing customer for us,” says Maupin in a recent interview with Cosmetics Design Editor Deanna Utroske.
“Atolla adapts your formulas over time, and so we are able to be on the skin journey with this customer as her skin is changing with age,” says Maupin, explaining a key feature of the artificial intelligence behind the brand. And she add, “this ingredient launch has helped us double down on more complex formulas that address her needs.”
