Global Beauty Accelerator SuperOrdinary Announces Minority Stake Investment in CREA, the Digital Commerce Solution for Southeast Asia

This Strategic Alliance Will Provide Access to One of the Fastest-Growing International Markets for Beauty & Personal Care

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SuperOrdinary, the leading global growth partner for the world’s most coveted beauty brands, is announcing a $25M minority stake investment in CREA, an omnichannel brand partner covering the Southeast Asian market. This strategic partnership will allow SuperOrdinary to extend its reach into Southeast Asia and offer its brand clients a single solution to reach their consumers across the United States, China and Southeast Asia.

�We are thrilled to partner with CREA and offer our portfolio of beauty brands a cost-effective, one-stop-shop solution to enter one of the fastest-growing digital consumer markets for beauty and personal care,” says Julian Reis, CEO and Founder of SuperOrdinary. “Digital commerce in Southeast Asia is experiencing an unprecedented boom and CREA’s team has played an integral role in allowing its portfolio of more than 70 prominent lifestyle brands to capitalize on this trend.”

SuperOrdinary is primed as the next house of global beauty, providing brands with a streamlined solution for growth and expansion with services that include global demand generation, distribution, branding and marketing, consumer data analytics, product registration and more. CREA has operated in a parallel path with similar capabilities and offerings in the Southeast Asia market, utilizing its Omnichannel Technology Platform CUSP to gather key business insights, optimize inventory and increase social engagement.

“Southeast Asia presents a unique opportunity for global brands with young digital savvy consumers who are increasing their consumption power and avidly engaging with global trends through digital media. Entering these markets with a digital first approach is key and CREA is uniquely positioned to enable this opportunity with a omnichannel strategy,” says Aimone Ripa di Meana, CREA Co-Founder.

Alessandro Piscini, CREAs Co-Founder, states that “CREA has built a unique value proposition through our proprietary technology, CUSP, logistics infrastructure and a world class team that makes entering Southeast Asia simple for Global brands.”

The minority investment forges a strategic alliance between SuperOrdinary and CREA, which will develop a new cross-border Global Platform network and allow each company’s respective portfolio to seamlessly expand into new markets. Through organic business expansion and revenue synergies from the partnership, CREA is expected to continue its rapid pace of growth with revenue expected to triple in 2022 and grow by 500% by 2023.

Over the last year, CREA’s portfolio of leading brands, including Lancôme, Kiehl’s, The Body Shop and Clarins, has grown over 400%, demonstrating the effectiveness of its platform in driving conversion. During this same period, SuperOrdinary doubled its revenue as a result of rapid global expansion for its portfolio composed of beauty heavy hitters such as Drunk Elephant, The Ordinary, Supergoop!, and more. The company also launched its first-ever incubator brand LULA and expanded into the United States through a strategic deal with Amazon.

This partnership comes on the heels of a monumental year for e-commerce in Southeast Asia where digital retail grew 85% during the pandemic and 80% of all consumers are expected to shop digital by the end of 2021. The beauty and personal care industry in the region is expected to grow by more than 5% annually driven by digital commerce penetration, providing SuperOrdinary with a highly attractive market opportunity.

About SuperOrdinary:

SuperOrdinary is the leading global distribution partner and brand accelerator facilitating sustainable global expansion for best-in-class beauty and personal care brands including Drunk Elephant, Malin + Goetz, The Ordinary, Supergoop!, and many more. Launched in 20 by Founder & CEO Julian Reis, SuperOrdinary has secured its position as the gatekeeper for bringing American beauty and personal care brands to the difficult-to-permeate and highly regulated Chinese market – without compromise. Employing a nimble approach and unmatched expertise of navigating industry regulations and consumer trends, SuperOrdinary has perfected a go-to-market toolkit, sales engine, and marketing prowess with a propensity to build personal care and beauty brands according to its client’s global vision. In 2021, SuperOrdinary expanded its business model into the United States by partnering with beauty brands to strategically scale in an ever-evolving digital-first marketplace, beginning with Joanna Vargas, Biossance, Dr. Brandt, and Archipelago Botanicals. Additionally, SuperOrdinary is implementing a M&A strategy of incubating, investing in, and acquiring brands to optimize marketing, infrastructure and scale on a global level, laying the foundation to become the beauty industry’s most powerful conglomerate and official “house of global beauty.”

About CREA:

CREA is the leading digital commerce enabler providing end to end solution for brands to reach the booming, digital savvy millennial and Generation Z consumers in Southeast Asia. Powered by Lazada co-founders, Aimone Ripa di Meana and Alessandro Piscini along with experienced team members who have shaped the digital commerce landscape across Asia over the decade; CREA offers the opportunity for global brands to win the Millennial and Generation Z consumer by providing end to end services to operate on the existing digital channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Line, TikTok, Lazada and Shopee and their own online brand store. CREA’s platform is powered by its proprietary technology, local logistics infrastructure and a world class team offering brands an effective and cost-efficient solution to scale through digital commerce.

Contacts

Nicole Albert

AZIONE

nicole.albert@azionepr.com