HTGF invests in Personal Care ingredients platform

Today, bringing a new product to market can take 6 months and 5 years, involving up to 15 different parties. High market fragmentation, unstructured and often unreliable data, growing regulatory pressure and consumer demand for more sustainable, socially responsible, and transparent products have emphasized better digital solutions to support the industry's transformation. This is where Covalo (formerly Chemberry), with its belief in an ecosystem of solutions targeting specific needs, comes in.

Founded in 2021 by Timo von Bargen and Yann Chilvers as a spinoff of chemicals specialist Clariant, Covalo offers a comprehensive B2B platform that helps consumer goods brands discover, connect and transact with the best ingredient, services, and packaging suppliers. The platform aims to facilitate the seamless exchange of accurate, up-to-date, and standardized data.

Covalo today boasts a strong European footprint. The company is one of the largest ingredient platforms in the industry, with over 70,000 listings from more than 1000 suppliers worldwide. The platform is trusted by formulators from over 5,000 brands across more than 140 countries, who rely on the platform to find ingredient data and easily engage and collaborate with suppliers. Building on its strong presence in Personal Care, Covalo now sets its sights on the food industry for 2023.

With High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) as the lead investor, the startup has secured fresh capital to achieve its expansion plans and to further drive its mission to make the $3 trillion consumer goods industry more sustainable and transparent. Co-investors include seed + speed Ventures, the Gekko Group, the former Deloitte Germany Chemicals & Sustainability Lead, a former Coty executive, and other influential angel investors.

“Covalo provides a vital solution for transforming the development of new FMCG products to comply with the demands of a more sustainability-driven world. The ease of use and the variety of available ingredient information with direct data integration is a game-changer for FMCG manufacturers”, said Martin Möllmann, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF.

New partner networks to extend open-platform strategy
To extend its reach and drive its open-platform strategy, Covalo has established strategic partnerships with key industry associations such as COSMED in France, SKW in Switzerland, the leading fair organizer (Reed Exhibitions), and PLM (product life-cycle management) tools, regulatory and formulation software providers.

“The industry is in dire need of more transparency and easier access to product, supplier, formulation, regulatory, and other critical data. This starts by establishing a common industry standard, on which further collaboration and transaction offerings can be built. We strongly believe in an open and collaborative approach with all key industry stakeholders on that matter; That’s why we put so much emphasis on our partner network”, said Yann Chilvers, Co-Founder & COO von Covalo.

(Press release/RAN)