With sensitive skin as a trigger and a marked distrust of the traditional industry, Imberley Ho left finance behind to build a brand that targets mothers and children with safe, quick-to-formulate, and scientifically backed products.
«We now have a lab with chemists and R&D specialists,» says Ho, a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2019 , «but I was never willing to let go of that part of the job—being obsessed with products is in our DNA ,» she adds.
Since co-founding Evereden in 2018 with her husband, Huang Lee , formerly of Goldman Sachs , the brand has reached $100 million in annual sales by finding a market for family-friendly skin and hair care products for babies and tweens. Many of the first customers were young mothers looking for safe products for their children with sensitive skin.
The company raised nearly $40 million in venture capital between 2018 and 2021. Over time, like its customer base, Evereden grew, adding facial serums, conditioners, and fragrances specifically designed and tailored for boys, tweens, and pregnant mothers.
Although Sephora sells in eight countries outside the United States — including Canada, Australia, and the Philippines —the majority of its revenue comes from direct-to-consumer online sales.
«Billions of dollars were invested in women’s beauty, cosmetics, and skincare, but none of that innovation and investment actually went into women’s skincare,» Ho says. «That disparity just didn’t make sense to me.»
Thanks to social media, Generation Alpha had their first contact with a beauty product at age 8, according to a consumer trends study conducted last year by Ulta Beauty . This marks a clear difference from younger Millennials and those in Generation Z , who, on average, first encountered the industry at ages 15 and 12, respectively.
«It’s clear that these younger consumers are interested in skin care and have access to the internet… they likely need help choosing the right product,» says Morningstar analyst Dan Su . «Otherwise, they might opt for products designed for older skin that might not meet their needs.»
«The most interesting thing about Evereden is the pre-teen segment,» Su continues, «which is capturing the attention of companies, investors, and the beauty industry.»
Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur , the capital of Malaysia , Ho grew up with two entrepreneurial parents who founded a printing company. «I was literally a child entrepreneur in my mother’s womb, as she carried boxes because she couldn’t afford to hire anyone,» she says.
As a teenager, she became obsessed with the idea of getting into an Ivy League school . She later decided to apply to Stanford with early admission, guided largely by the photos of the California campus she’d seen on the university’s website. «That was my first time in the United States, when I landed at SFO to study at Stanford,» she recalls.
With fair skin, a bright expression, and an easy smile, Ho comes across as a modern-day Elle Woods , someone who never thought anything was impossible. In her first semester as an economics major at Stanford, she watched her classmates try to get the Goldman Sachs representatives to like her at recruiting events. Years later, in 2013, she entered the world of investment banking at the Manhattan firm and, after a stint there, moved to the asset management firm Oaktree .
At Oaktree, Ho began noticing troubling patterns across several of the major beauty brands she worked with: from multimillion-dollar lawsuits over undisclosed health risks, to a flood of direct-to-consumer brands that all looked the same, to minor quality issues that were constantly being covered up.
«It was the lack of care and integrity in some of these products that made me uncomfortable as a consumer, a beauty lover, and someone who grew up with very sensitive skin,» Ho recalls. «I came up with the idea when my friends in Malaysia were starting families and begging me to bring these big American brands that called themselves ‘clean and safe’ home. But because I was investing behind the scenes in many of these brands, I knew they weren’t as honest as they claimed to be,» she adds.
After noticing a shortage of quality skincare products, Ho decided to leave Oaktree in 2017 to launch a premium family cosmetics brand, which became Evereden. She emailed her proposal to 50 dermatologists at renowned medical institutions for help formulating the products. Dr. Joyce Teng , head of the pediatric dermatology department at Stanford School of Medicine , invited her to pitch the idea in person.
The project immediately resonated with Teng , who shared the story of her youngest daughter’s severe eczema. She soon joined as scientific director. Later, two other mothers, also physicians at Harvard Medical School, joined.
While cosmetics don’t require FDA approval before going on the market, sunscreens and over-the-counter eczema products do. Evereden has FDA approval for these specific products, and its medical team allows the brand to back up its products as safe and «clinically proven.»
Evereden launched in 2018 with a line of baby skincare products, following a seed round of funding led by Sidekick Partners , a Texas- based venture capital firm . In 2019, the company added products tailored to mothers, including stretch mark-fading oils. After surpassing $1 million in revenue in its first few years, it began adding skincare and haircare products for boys.
«We expanded primarily because our customers were growing up and saying, ‘My baby isn’t a baby anymore,'» Ho says. «‘They actually have an older brother. Do you have products for children?'» she explains.
The brand’s presence in various specific subcategories was key to its growth, especially on Amazon . Within a few months of launch, the company’s hair care products reached number one in the site’s children’s hair category, a segment still largely untapped by the online retail giant. Pre-teen products became Evereden’s fastest-growing category.
Evereden raised two rounds of funding in 2021. It raised $32 million in its Series C round, led by Menlo Park -based GSR Ventures . Much of that money went toward building its own formulation lab and building a team of specialty chemists.
«This isn’t common in the skincare and beauty industries,» says Ho. «Typically, only L’Oréal, Unilever , and P&G in the world have their own formulation labs.»
Most emerging cosmetics brands, including Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Beauty—which recently sold for $1 billion to Elf Beauty —use outside chemists and labs who charge a flat fee to develop formulas, while doing the same for dozens of other competing brands.
The industry standard for developing a new product with one of these outsourced companies is typically around 18 months. «With our lab, our product development lifecycle is three to six months,» says Ho. «Therefore, we launch products three to four times faster than any of our competitors.»
Evereden began launching about 10 products per year in 2021. Over the next four years, it added enough items to cover every age group’s needs, including hair, skin, body, fragrances, and cosmetics. It thus transformed into a complete personal care store for families. As of 2021, Amazon generated nearly half of the brand’s annual sales.
Ho also had the company’s international reach in mind. After all, the idea was born when her friends in Malaysia asked her to send them American products that were safe and truly clean for their newborns. Although Evereden has stores abroad, almost all sales are still made online. Last year, the company posted a net profit after reaching US$100 million in sales.
In recent years, Evereden’s growth has been accompanied by a sharp rise in preteens flocking to stores and social media to test, buy, and showcase increasingly comprehensive skincare routines. Sephora’s 2023 annual report noted that the number of customers between the ages of 9 and 12 has doubled in the past five years, and that the global children’s cosmetics market is estimated to be worth US$1.6 billion by 2024.
«We’re a multi-category, multi-generational brand, which I consider unique in the market,» says Ho. «No single SKU represents more than 20% of our total sales. And we have flagship products in each of our categories.»
While Evereden has benefited from the craze surrounding the so-called » Sephora kids , « the brand’s recent growth isn’t directly tied to TikTok ‘s influence on kids. In fact, Evereden doesn’t yet have a presence in major U.S. retailers like Sephora or Ulta , though Ho hopes to land a major collaboration with one of those retailers this year.
The company’s growth also coincided with many young people’s interest in more expensive skincare brands, such as Drunk Elephant and Laneige . These brands often contain anti-aging ingredients or chemical exfoliants, which, according to several dermatologists, can seriously damage young skin.
Evereden is priced high, especially compared to a Johnson’s baby lotion that costs $5. However, it’s relatively affordable compared to adult brands that appeal to kids. A 50ml jar of Drunk Elephant moisturizer costs $69, while a similar cream from Evereden is less than half that price at $28.
Drunk Elephant reported sales of $120 million when it was acquired by Shiseido in 2019 , but that figure is expected to drop 65% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Part of the decline is explained by the loss of its adult consumer base as the brand began to gain popularity among boys and tweens.
«I didn’t really see any particular brand gaining traction,» admits Morningstar ‘s Su . «I think it’s reasonable to think that some of the big brands in the personal care and beauty sector would be researching and developing products. But it’s very niche,» she points out.
Su warns that Evereden could face challenges if it fails to gather sufficient consumer data to improve product development. She also emphasizes that all companies today have the ability to identify and understand the new generations based on their use of social media.
«Each generation grows faster than the last,» says Ho. «Generation Alpha grew up on social media, and everyone has had a cell phone by the age of eight,» he explains.
On Evereden’s TikTok account, there’s a pinned video with half a million views. It starts with two boys, around six years old, applying the brand’s cream to their faces, dressed as miniature versions of adult influencers who’ve made millions doing the same thing on their own accounts. Seeing such young children posing so freely in front of the camera can be a bit strange, but most of the comments on the video say things like, «Could you send me your products?» she says.
