Experiment has closed a seed round, to the tune of $3.3 million.
The TikTok-native skin care brand, which sells directly on its website with four stock keeping units — a reusable sheet mask, a hydrating serum, an oil-gel hybrid and a lip balm — has amassed the funding to fuel team expansion, product development and marketing.
Greycroft, Katherine Power’s seed-to-growth-stage investment firm, led the round. Liah Yoo’s PressReset also participated, in addition to individual investors.
Lisa Guerrera, the brand’s cofounder, said the brand’s first turning point came with the launch of its second product: a hydrating facial serum called Super Saturated, which features 30 percent glycerin in the formula.
“We launched Super Saturated in November and that was a turning point for the brand, it became a hero product,” she said. “In February of 2023, we had an organic post from Mikayla Nogueira, who bought the product five days before, and she posted a video calling it the most hydrating serum in the world. We sold out of months’ worth of inventory in one month, which led to what I call the great Super Saturated drought of 2023.”
Following that, the product had a waitlist of more than 10,000 people. Industry sources say the brand’s first-year revenues surpassed $1 million. Guerrera didn’t comment on sales, but did note that the brand’s growth has been entirely organic with no paid advertising spend since the brand’s launch.
Guerrera credits her products’ efficacy, as well as unconventional formats and visual identities, for the success. For Super Saturated, for example, Guerrera’s goal was to take an unconventional approach to a common need.
“All of the hyaluronic acid serums you see on the market are largely the same. Super Saturated comes in and glycerin is the star,” she said. “Every influencer was posting about the texture of the product, and it’s a visual attention grabber… our goal is to create these new, unexpected essentials for our consumer.”
Much of the seed round will bolster future product development in the brand’s in-house lab. “It allows us to be really creative. We look at the market, put our finger to the wind, and it’s part-taste, part-awareness of who your consumer is. For us, that’s 18 to 35 and very active in the skin care community.”
It will also go toward entering a new marketing chapter, as well as product development and hiring new team members. “We’re going into more expensive products to develop. We are supposed to eventually come out with sunscreen, for example. These things take time and a lot of money to do,” she said. “That investment is also going to marketing and we need to take this brand to new creative heights.”
“We’re excited about the differentiated brand Lisa and Emmy are building as chemists introducing clinically backed products to the market in a playful, engaging way,” said Alaina Hartley, principal, Greycroft. “Experiment’s organic growth — as evidenced by their five-figure waitlists and social virality — underscores the power of their early customer love. This is just the beginning for Experiment, and we’re thrilled to partner with them as they scale.”
