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This Gentle New Brightening Serum Harnesses the Power of Malassezin, a Molecule With 10x More Antioxidant Power Than Vitamin C

A few years back, Ann Marie Einziger had a light spot on her back caused by tinea versicolor, a common, easily treatable fungal infection.”Instead of seeing that patch of skin as a nuisance and something that I wanted to get rid of, I had this counterintuitive ‘aha!’ moment where I was like, ‘Wait, what if there’s good stuff that’s doing this?'” says Ann Marie, a former science teacher who never lost that sense of scientific curiosity.

Her instinct was right: Hyper and hyperpigmentation (the darkening and lightening of the skin) are both inflammatory responses that (respectively) increase or decrease your body’s melanin production as a protective measure. “Because my skin was being protected, it wasn’t burning in the sun and looked brighter,” says Ann Marie.

She wondered if she could harness the powers of what was happening in her skin into a topical solution. She and her husband,  Mike Einzinger (who, fun fact, is the founding guitarist of the band Incubus), worked to amass a team of leading scientists—including Pearl Grimes, MD, a board-certified dermatologist who is the head of the Vitiligo and Pigmentation Institute of Southern California. Together, they discovered  Malassezin, a molecular compound that comes from a yeast called Malassezia furfur (the same one that causes dandruff), lives on the skin, and regulates melanin production.

Now, you can experience all that Malassezin has to offer in the Mother Science Molecular Hero Serum ($89). It heroes the novel molecule and is complemented by soothing and brightening niacinamide and restorative Alpine rose extract.

“The three ways that we help with excess pigment is we slow the transport of melanin to the uppermost layers of the skin cell through the melanocytes,” says Ann Marie. “We also are able to slow the excess production of melanin. And then lastly, we slow the transfer from the melanocyte, which is the highway-like structure that melanin travels up through, to the keratinocyte, the top layer of your skin cells.”

Malassezin has 10 times more antioxidants than vitamin C—which has long been lauded as the gold standard for brightening—allowing it to provide amazing protection from free-radical damage that can cause premature signs of aging. It’s also far more stable than vitamin C, which is notorious for fast degradation. “We’ve tested it for years now because we’ve had this molecule sitting around in bottles, and we’re able to go back every once in a while and see that molecule’s still stable,” says Ann Marie.

Because Malassezin has a calming effect on the skin, it can do its work without causing irritation. “It activates the skin’s endogenous antioxidant mechanism, which is its natural antioxidant defense mechanism,” says Mike. The team was able to figure out that the ingredient works sans irritation through Repeat Irritation Patch Testing. “Basically, people put it on their skin over and over again,” says Ann Marie. “We got hundreds of people to do this who had self-reported sensitive skin. We then asked, ‘Did you experience any irritation?’ Of the 200 people who did this, there were zero reports of inflammation.”

Using the Mother Science Molecular Hero Serum

I’ve been using the Mother Science Molecular Hero Serum for about a week and love it so far. Of course, it’s too soon to see any results, but I can say that it goes on smoothly, dries down fast without feeling sticky, and lays nicely under sunscreen and makeup. Plus, it doesn’t sensitize your skin to the sun or interfere with other active ingredients—meaning you can use it morning or night. Use it to replace all of your other serums or add it to your rotation to enhance your routine.

“If you’re using a highly irritating retinol, you can still use Malassezin, and it’s probably gonna supercharge your retinol because it’s working in a different way,” says Ann Marie. “I like to look at this as you’re pulling different levers in addressing different issues in your skin with the products you use. We’re pulling on a new lever that never existed before, which complements all the other levers you’re pulling.”

Skin care startup raises $6.2 million to fight hyperpigmentation

Mother Science, a skincare company founded by Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger and Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, a violinist and the guitarist’s wife, is debuting its first product aimed at skin hyperpigmentation.

Why it matters: The company, which the pair of world-famous musicians and serial entrepreneurs founded in 2021, has raised $6.2 million in total venture capital (most of it in a seed round last November).

The big picture: Mother Science says it’s a skin care company built on novel scientific research.

  • After Simpson-Einziger developed some light skin patches while traveling, the pair dove into some research and stumbled upon malassezin, a compound produced by Malassezia furfur and other species of that yeast that’s naturally found on human skin.
  • After a few years of research, they formed the company and hired Jessica Goldin, a beauty industry veteran and former CEO of Shani Darden Skin Care, to run the venture.

Zooming in: For now, the company’s product will be sold from its website, though Goldin says she hopes it will eventually make it into retailers.

  • The serum, which the company says can also improve skin texture beyond hyperpigmentation, is priced at $89 — certainly putting it into the high-end category of skin care products. Goldin points out that there are much more expensive products on the market.
  • “At the end of the day, I think women really value efficacy and results, and if they buy something and they don’t see any results, they’re not gonna buy it again,” says Goldin.
  • The company already has more products in its development pipeline.

Mother Science Features Novel Molecule to Power Debut Serum

Husband-and-wife duo Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger and Mike Einziger had super successful careers as musicians, but life had other plans when Anne Marie came down with a skin condition that sparked career 2.0. This month the couple launch Mother Science, a biotech beauty brand that harnesses the power of a first-to-market molecule that’s said to effectively improve the appearance of skin discoloration, provide 10 times the antioxidant power of vitamin C, and reinforce the skin barrier.

Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger and her husband Mike Eizenger have many shared passions. One is music, the other is science.

On the music front, both Ann Marie and Mike have achieved more than a moderate amount of success. Ann Marie is a renowned violinist who’s worked as a composer and performer with famed Academy Award-winning film composer Hans Zimmer on numerous film scores including Sherlock Holmes, Interstellar, 12 Years a Slave, and The Lone Ranger. Guitar-playing Mike founded the band Incubus in high school, which has reached multi-platinum success as a metal band with more than 23 million albums sold worldwide.

But it wasn’t until Ann Marie suffered from a skin disorder while on tour with Mike six years ago that the two put their shared science education to create a brand to help solve it: Ann Marie majored in biology at the University of Virginia before teaching high school physics and chemistry; Mike studied the history of physics at Harvard University.

“Don’t worry, I went to Harvard. I got this,” Mike told Ann Marie when she pointed out her skin irritation. From there, the two say they became obsessed. “We nerded out, we didn’t sleep. Mike would wake me up in the middle of the night with a scientific paper he found and ask, ‘Is this helpful?’ Although we both have scientific backgrounds, we’re not Ph.D. formulation chemists. So we put a scientific proposal together as citizen scientists,” Ann Marie explains.

This month they’re launching the fruit of their labor, Mother Science, a brand that harnesses the power of a first-to-market novel molecule the company founded called malassezin, which effectively improves the appearance of skin discoloration, provides 10 times the antioxidant power of vitamin C, and reinforces the skin barrier.

“Everyone knows who Mother Nature is, and that she is an ancient, healing entity that we all need to respect and take care of. Yet there’s a synergy between Mother Nature and ‘Mother Science’ that is rarely mentioned,” Ann Marie shares. More than mere inspiration for the brand name, the ethos of the company supports Mother Science’s moniker as well. “Our women-led team is all about pursuing a new space, changing the landscape, trying to disrupt the beauty ecosystem, and taking control of knowledge for the good of ourselves and our planet.”

Why did it take six years to bring Mother Science’s Molecular Hero Serum to market? “Because we brought real scientists into the fold,” the couple says with a laugh. “The pace of science is slow by nature, especially when you’re bringing a new molecule into development. You have to characterize it and synthesize it, and testing takes time,” she explains.

Molecular Hero Serum doesn’t feature a new derivative of an existing skin care ingredient, and it isn’t just serving up a new delivery system. This multi-tasking serum is a byproduct of a species of yeast called malassezia that’s found naturally on the surface of human skin. When this fungus goes awry, it can cause a host of undesirable skin effects — but with Molecular Hero Serum’s malassezin, “You’re going to target dark spots and hyperpigmentation while seeing smoother, brighter skin. It’s also going to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles,” Ann Marie explains.

Fueled mainly by a seed round led by Female Founders Fund in November 2022 (to-date Mother Science has raised a total of $6.2 million), the brand has been able to conduct an extensive amount of research, including in-vitro and in-vivo testing, genomic panels, and 3D MelanoDerm models that are the gold standard for skin testing. It also allowed Mike and Ann Marie to bring on Jessica Goldin as Mother Science’s CEO to build the brand and shepherd its go-to-market strategy. Jessica is a 20-year beauty industry veteran who previously served as the founding CEO of Shani Darden Skin Care and held various leadership and executive marketing roles at Beautycounter, Murad, Clinique, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. Mother Science’s team also includes Dr. Pearl Grimes, the brand’s Chief Dermatologist, a globally recognized expert and leading authority in hyperpigmentation. Dr. Grimes has spent the past six years leading extensive scientific studies on Malassezin.

“Consumers are becoming more and more interested in science-based skin care, ” said Jessica. “As a biotech beauty brand with a proprietary, novel ingredient, we are excited to introduce a highly efficacious serum based on a new approach to treating dark spots and sun damage.”

In addition to establishing its safety profile, research shows malassezin’s ability to prevent the development of unwanted skin pigment and decrease existing discoloration associated with mild, moderate, and severe sun damage and hormonally-induced discoloration. Results were assessed via instrumentation measures, dermatologist grading, and VISIA imaging technology — and confirmed with consumer perception assessments.

According to Ann Marie, malassezin is not a tyrosinase inhibitor, which is the mechanism behind many anti-discoloration ingredients. Instead, malassezin acts on a skin receptor that regulates skin balance. “To target hyperpigmentation, malassezin decreases the production of excess melanin and interferes with the transfer of pigment to the upper layers of the skin.” At the same time, this unique ingredient also improves barrier function by supporting the skin’s production of natural moisturizing factors while helping to minimize irritation, which is also a trigger for the formation of dark spots.

Ann Marie’s takeaway: “It’s really rare to find an actual new molecule that is clinically effective and developed with this rigor, and bring it into the cosmetic space. We had to write the playbook on how to introduce something that is clinically and scientifically tested into an ecosystem that doesn’t really support this kind of disruption.”

Molecular Hero Serum was formulated to meet the EU’s stringent ingredient standards, and easily integrates into any morning and evening skin care regimen as the serum step. Ann Marie says it can be used in place of vitamin C in the morning (thanks to 10 times the antioxidant power and enhanced stability), and that “malassezin plays well with other active ingredients you may use in the morning or evening without causing dryness, irritation or sun sensitivity.”

Ann Marie adds, “I feel like ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable’ are just table stakes now. That’s what it takes to future-proof anything you’re creating. Our ingredient-synthesis process is extremely sustainable as compared to the natural process of growing a raw material, fermenting it, and extracting the active.” The Molecular Hero Serum formula is also vegan, cruelty-free, and Leaping Bunny-certified, and housed in a glass bottle.

When a brand launches with one SKU, we’re left to wonder whether it can maintain loyalty to its initial hero ingredient, and cement its status as a disrupter. But Ann Marie is optimistic.

“Right now we’re focusing on malassezin for the short-term because this ingredient has so much potential, but our pipeline is driven by intentional innovation and may include other molecules in the future.”

To engage consumers, Mother Science is using media outreach and an aggressive seeding approach to get the product into the hands of influencers, dermatologists, and thought leaders in the world of hyperpigmentation and skin care-ingredient science. The brand’s social media strategy is driven heavily by educational content and the goal of building a community of fellow “citizen scientists” that has a shared desire to read, learn and share knowledge.

Although the brand is launching direct-to-consumer, Ann Marie and Mike hope to enter retail at some point in time.

Mother Science Hero Molecular Serum retails for $89 and is available at MotherScience.com.

Meet Mother Science, the Single-sku Skin Care Brand Founded by a Guitarist, a Violinist and a Beauty Veteran

The brand has raised $6.2 million in funding and aims to change the way hyperpigmentation is treated.

Musicians Mike Einziger and Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger have been working on a new kind of debut: A skin care brand. The husband-and-wife duo have teamed up with Jessica Goldin — an alum of Clinique, Murad and Beautycounter — to found Mother Science, which launches Tuesday with an $89 Molecular Hero Serum that aims to treat hyperpigmentation.

Meet Mother Science, the Single-sku Skin Care Brand Founded by a Guitarist, a Violinist and a Beauty Veteran

Musicians Mike Einziger and Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger have been working on a new kind of debut: A skin care brand.

The husband-and-wife duo have teamed up with Jessica Goldin — an alum of Clinique, Murad and Beautycounter — to found Mother Science, which launches Tuesday with an $89 Molecular Hero Serum that aims to treat hyperpigmentation.

The product’s star ingredient is a yeast-derived molecule called malassezin, which a series of clinical studies have suggested can be effective in treating myriad forms of hyperpigmentation.

“It was never our intention to start a skin care brand — we were just trying to figure out what was happening with my own skin,” said Simpson-Einziger, a violinist who in 2016 developed a series of harmless — but baffling — lightened patches of skin on her back.

After a visit to the doctor deemed the patches a “medical mystery,” Simpson-Einziger and her husband (who is also the lead guitarist of rock band Incubus) set out to identify the cause themselves — and see if its lightening effects could consequently reduce the appearance of facial hyperpigmentation.

“It was a long journey — we were in this state for maybe three years of researching and publishing papers on [The Journal of Drugs in Dermatology], without commercializing,” said Simpson-Einziger.

While there are studies of malassezin dating back to the early 2000s, more research was necessary in order to bring the molecule’s antioxidant properties to life in a consumer skin care product, which, prior to this launch, had never been done. To accomplish this, the brand tapped Dr. Pearl Grimes — who is the founder and director of the Vitiligo and Pigmentation Institute of Southern California — as its chief scientific officer.

“Malassezin works in three different ways: it’s able to slow the transport of melanin to the upper layers of skin; it’s able to slow the development of excess pigmentation, and it also slows the transfer of melanin between skin cells,” said Simpson-Einziger.

“All of our initial products are all going to be focused on malassezin; it is such a powerhouse ingredient, and we’re looking to see how we can play up its benefits in different ways and forms,” said Simpson-Einziger.

“A longer-term goal for us is we hope that one day malassezin will become the gold standard in treating dark spots and hyperpigmentation,” said Goldin, who serves as chief executive officer of Mother Science in addition to being a cofounder.

The brand has raised $6.2 million in funding to date, the majority coming from a seed round led by Female Founders Fund last November. Though the founders declined to comment on sales expectations for the launch, industry sources estimate Mother Science could do between $1 million and $5 million in first-year retail sales.

“I look at this brand the same way I look at music; it’s extremely hard to make anything in this world that people will actually care about, and I’m humbled that I’ve been lucky enough to do that. My hope is that Mother Science can connect and resonate with a community of people experiencing these issues with their skin,” said Einziger.

“We want to make a hit,” added Simpson-Einziger, grinning.

Genemod lands $4.5M for life sciences data storage and collaboration platform

Genemod, a Seattle startup developing a cloud-based platform to help life sciences companies and researchers manage their data and workflows, raised $4.5 million.

The company sells collaborative workspace software that centralizes and structures research data, allowing real-time updates and remote collaboration. Users can track progress, visualize data, and see who made changes. The idea is to become the go-to standard for research scientists, like Figma for designers or Jira for engineers.

“The data shows that research teams and companies employing digital solutions for data and operations management outperform those relying solely on pen and paper,” CEO and co-founder Jacob Lee told GeekWire via email.

Lee is a former Juno Therapeutics engineer in technology strategy and innovation. He is joined by CTO and co-founder Jin Choe, a former software engineer at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. Both founders are University of Washington graduates.

Genemod aims to tackle challenges with reproducibility, or the ability for researchers to recreate an experiment to achieve the same results. The pandemic accelerated the company’s adoption, with customers including AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers, Merck, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and others.

The fresh cash will go toward expanding its workforce and scaling its go-to-market operations. Genemod raised $1.7 million in October 2020. Total funding to date is $6.2 million. The latest round was co-led by existing investor Defy.vc and LDV Partners, with participation from Dolby Family Ventures and Cercano Ventures.

Hakimo: $6 Million Raised To Modernize Physical Security Through Its AI Software

Hakimo – a technology company dedicated to modernizing physical security through its AI software – announced $6 million in new funding led by Rocketship.vc with participation from existing investors Neotribe Ventures, defy.vc and Firebolt Ventures as well as new investors Carrier Global Corporation (through its venture capital group Carrier Ventures), and renowned physical security industry entrepreneur John L. Moss. Hakimo plans to use the capital to further accelerate product development and expand into new markets.

The Hakimo platform utilizes computer vision and machine learning to automate the monitoring of physical security sensors such as cameras and badge readers. And the platform also provides an option to communicate warnings through speakers when it detects unwanted activity such as a person entering an area where they do not belong.

This combination of automated monitoring and response helps security teams save time and money while proactively deterring and preventing security breaches from occurring. And the Hakimo platform natively integrates with most enterprise video and access control systems to provide a unified solution that responds to alarms automatically, exposes potential insider threats, and detects faulty cameras and door hardware. Plus this enables enterprise organizations to enhance security, efficiency and compliance, in a way that no other company in the industry has touched upon.

Hakimo has raised $10 million to date including its $4 million seed round announced in late 2021. And since then, Hakimo has gained numerous customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to airports to auto dealerships.

The company has also forged alliances with leading physical security providers such as LenelS2 (part of Carrier) and has been recognized with prestigious security industry awards including the Security Industry Association’s 2022 New Products and Solutions Judges’ Choice award. And the Security Executive Council, a leading research and advisory firm governed by former corporate chief security officers, validated the efficacy of the Hakimo solution. Recently, National Safe Skies Alliance, a nonprofit organization funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), completed an operational test and evaluation of the solution.

The fresh funding round comes at a time when increased crime rates, acute staffing shortages, and macroeconomic conditions are forcing organizations to explore smarter ways to strengthen their physical security posture while cutting costs. And Hakimo solves this problem by automating repetitive tasks traditionally performed by security guards and escalating only real high-risk incidents to human operators. This enables organizations to reduce their guard footprint, or even eliminate it completely, without sacrificing security.

Hakimo was founded by Sam Joseph and Sagar Honnungar, who are Stanford-trained AI experts with backgrounds in building enterprise-grade software as a service (SaaS). The founders also recognized the potential for AI to solve some of the physical security industry’s most significant challenges and have since assembled a talented, growing team of engineers and industry professionals.

KEY QUOTES:

“AI is redefining how a broad spectrum of industries do business. Physical security is one such industry that has all the ingredients needed for an AI overhaul, and we’re excited to support Hakimo in that endeavor.”

  • Anand Rajaraman, Founding Partner, Rocketship.vc

“Hakimo provides a much-needed automation platform that helps a wide range of organizations improve security in this resource-constrained environment. We’re proud to be transforming the industry and are grateful for the support of our customers, partners and investors as we continue on this journey together.”

  • Sam Joseph, Co-Founder and CEO, Hakimo

“We are thrilled to see Hakimo’s continued growth and customer adoption. Since the inception of our firm, we have been actively investing in cutting-edge AI companies, and we are excited to support Sam and his team as they continue to transform the space of AI for physical security.”

  • Neil Sequeira, Founder and Partner at defy.vc

Exclusive: Genemod’s plan to be the “Salesforce of biotech”

Shared lab inventory and project management startup Genemod hopes to be a kind of Salesforce for the life science market.

Why it matters: The Seattle-based company raised $4.5 million in seed
funding to build a cloud-based, collaborative research and development
platform for life science researchers, CEO Jacob Lee tells Axios exclusively.

Deal details: Defy.vc and LDV Partners co-led the round and were joined by
Dolby Ventures and Cercano Management.

– Funds will go toward bolstering brand-name recognition, focusing sales on
for-profit biopharmaceutical companies and hiring.

– Lee declined to say when he foresees the startup raising a Series A.

How it works: Genemod’s platform includes tools for collaborative data
acquisition, project documentation, inventory management and progress
tracking.

– The company licenses its services to customers on a yearly basis, and rates
depend on the number of features used and overall usage rates.

– “It’s not so much a Slack for scientists as a central research hub or
operating system,” says Lee. “We differentiate ourselves by being
lightweight.”

– Lee says while Genemod has thousands of academic clients who use a free
version of its software, the company is now focused exclusively on
courting larger biopharma clients such as current customers AstraZeneca
and Bristol Myers Squibb.

What they’re saying: “Their biggest competitor though is a physical notebook
and literal spreadsheets, all these traditional ways of doing things,” Defy.vc managing director and Genemod investor Neil Sequeira tells Axios.

The backstory: Like many startups, Genemod started as a side hustle when
Lee, a bench scientist working for a biopharmaceutical company, grew tired
of manual, clumsy R&D tools and decided to develop his own solution with
co-founder Jin Choe.

– “We’re at the cutting edge of science and using these rudimentary tools,”
Lee recalls thinking. “We wanted a central repository for data that I could
share with colleagues, so what started as a side project turned into a
startup.”

State of play: Genemod competitors range from nimble startups to well-
established unicorns with big-name pharmaceutical clients, but Lee says the company stands out by offering a lean and streamlined set of services that
won’t overwhelm.

– Benchling, whose platform supported two of the antibody treatments
developed to treat COVID, in 2021 collected $100 million in Series F capital
at a $6.1 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

– LabArchives, which offers researchers tools for managing and collecting
data and inventory, was acquired in 2021 by Insightful Science.

– Quartzy, a lab management platform, in 2016 collected $17 million in Series
B funds.

Physical security outfit Hakimo bags $6m

Hakimo, a tech firm that claims it is dedicated to modernising physical security through AI, has raised $6m in new funding led by Rocketship.vc.

Also participating in the round were Neotribe Ventures, defy.vc and Firebolt Ventures as well as new investors Carrier Global Corporation and physical security industry entrepreneur John L. Moss.

The Hakimo platform uses computer vision and machine learning to automate the monitoring of physical security sensors such as cameras and badge readers. The platform also provides an option to communicate warnings through speakers when it detects unwanted activity such as a person entering an area where they do not belong.

This combination of automated monitoring and response helps security teams save time and money while proactively deterring and preventing security breaches from occurring.

In addition, Hakimo natively integrates with most enterprise video and access control systems to provide a unified solution that responds to alarms automatically, exposes potential insider threats and detects faulty cameras and door hardware.

The company will use the new funding to accelerate product development and expand into new markets.

Hakimo CEO and co-founder Sam Joseph said, “Hakimo provides a much-needed automation platform that helps a wide range of organizations improve security in this resource-constrained environment. We’re proud to be transforming the industry and are grateful for the support of our customers, partners and investors as we continue on this journey together.”

Back in November 2021, Hakimo landed $4m in seed round financing with the aim of bringing cyber-like tools to the workplace.

Physical security outfit Hakimo bags $6m

Hakimo, a tech firm that claims it is dedicated to modernising physical security through AI, has raised $6m in new funding led by Rocketship.vc.

Also participating in the round were Neotribe Ventures, defy.vc and Firebolt Ventures as well as new investors Carrier Global Corporation and physical security industry entrepreneur John L. Moss.

The Hakimo platform uses computer vision and machine learning to automate the monitoring of physical security sensors such as cameras and badge readers. The platform also provides an option to communicate warnings through speakers when it detects unwanted activity such as a person entering an area where they do not belong.

This combination of automated monitoring and response helps security teams save time and money while proactively deterring and preventing security breaches from occurring.

In addition, Hakimo natively integrates with most enterprise video and access control systems to provide a unified solution that responds to alarms automatically, exposes potential insider threats and detects faulty cameras and door hardware.

The company will use the new funding to accelerate product development and expand into new markets.