Shiseido Beauty Innovations Fund invests in Trautec

The Shiseido Beauty Innovations Fund, with the Japanese beauty company as its lead investor, announced its first investment in Jiangsu Trautec Medical Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese maker of recombinant collagen-based biomaterials.

In a statement, the Shiseido Beauty Innovations Fund said it has invested 100 million renminbi into Trautec and will form a strategic partnership with the Chinese biomaterials maker to work together in areas such as product research and development, raw material supply, and sales channels to accelerate the exploration of new areas in functional skincare.

Trautec, established in 2015, produces materials primarily for use in the medical and cosmetics industries and operates the full value chain from research and development to manufacturing and distribution. It also holds multiple intellectual property rights in the development of recombinant collagen and owns a production plant located in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.

“The market of functional skin care, which offers specific functions to skin, is growing significantly, as more Chinese consumers are looking for effective solutions to their skin problems,” added Shiseido. “The needs for recombinant collagen are expanding because of its stability and effectiveness, as well as wide application to medical, health care and cosmetics fields.”

Shiseido announced the launch of the Shiseido Beauty Innovations Fund in 2021 in partnership with Boyu Capital, a leading alternative asset management firm with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore. The fund was established to explore investment opportunities in China’s emerging cosmetics and wellness brands, as well as related technology companies such as e-commerce and digital services.

Through the fund, Shiseido is looking to enhance its business portfolio in China to meet the diversifying consumer needs and to steadily strengthen its China business, which is one of the pillars of the company’s medium-to-long-term strategy ‘Win 2023 and Beyond’.