‘Tesla of beauty’: Aussie outfit OBJ outlines global ambitions for new cosmetics tech business

10-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 10-Jul-2019 at 01:24 GMT

OBJ Limited has signalled its ambition to become the ‘Tesla of beauty devices’, arguing the sector is still very much in its infancy and ripe for innovation. ©OBJ

Australia-based tech firm OBJ Limited has signalled its ambition to become the ‘Tesla of beauty devices’, arguing the sector is still very much in its infancy and ripe for innovation.

The company recently recruited the former CEO of Swedish beauty tech business Foreo, Paul Peros, to help establish itself as a market leader after he steered the firm to revenues of US$1bn in 2018. The new division, headed by Peros, will commercialise a range of products and solutions developed by OBJ.

Potentials of beauty tech

Peros believes the beauty device market is still in its infancy and has massive potential to expand.

“The beauty device market still feels as though it’s in infancy due to the number of potential routes yet to be explored. If you look back to the early 1980s, beauty was on a par with consumer electronics in terms of market size,” said Peros.

He added: “Today, there’s a magnitude of difference between the two markets and it is intuitive to connect this development with the rate of innovation that we’ve seen in consumer electronics. This suggests that developing and introducing a mere 10% of the innovation that we have seen in consumer electronics could technically double the beauty market.”

Peros told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that the company plans to take a global market perspective for the business.

“The market potential for beauty devices depends on the application. For example, North America has been the home of cleansing devices for some time, but anti-ageing applications tend to find their place in the most dynamic markets of Asia,” he said.

A core market

However, Peros added that the APAC region was one of OBJ’s core markets for its new beauty tech brand.

“If you take the energy of the APAC cosmetics market and enhance it with the innovations coming from the device world – the potential is huge,” said Peros.

Peros estimated that the APAC cosmetics industry was expected to reach $126.8bn by 2020.

“This makes it the second largest market for cosmetics after Europe. And the forecasts are looking strong for their beauty devices market which is predicted to reach $36.9bn by 2024.”

He highlighted that there was a larger demand for skin care in APAC compared to the west, creating a “natural demand” for beauty devices.

“The demand is also reinforced by a cultural openness and engagement towards technological novelties – this consumer curiosity in APAC drives the continued growth, spend and penetration of the beauty tech category,” he added.

The ‘Tesla of beauty’

With Peros and his expertise in beauty devices, OBJ believes it will be able to become the ‘Tesla of beauty’.

The first product under the new brand concept is expected to launch in mid-2020.

Peros declined to reveal more about the project, but assured that it would be “very exciting”.

“We’ve set the bar quite high with the first product under the new brand concept expected to launch in mid-2020. I can also tell you that we will not only be focused on skin care but a variety of premium beauty categories.”

Beyond that, the company already has other projects in the pipeline, said Peros.

“There are lots of great ideas in the pipeline which I, unfortunately, can’t reveal yet. But I can say that already, the combination of new technology and topical products is providing a lot of scope and will keep us very busy indeed.”