Beauty tech startup Lilycover raises 4.75 billion won in Series A

Beauty tech startup Lili Cover, whose core technology is skin analysis based on big data and AI algorithms, has raised KRW 4.75 billion in Series A funding from POSCO Technology Investment, TBT Partners, IBK and Kite Entrepreneurs Fund, among others. Its total funding now stands at KRW 5.5 billion.

Although South Korea’s cosmetics market is renowned for K-beauty, most beauty services have traditionally been designed around sellers and other suppliers, leaving consumers to choose from mass-produced products. Lili Cover is changing the industry by building technology and a platform that put customers first, delivering convenient online services tailored to each user’s needs and skin condition.

Lili Cover developed an algorithm using real-world skin data collected over the past four years in the United States, South Korea and Vietnam with its portable skin analysis and care device, Muli. Users can easily check their pores, wrinkles, sensitivity and moisture-oil balance, and track their skin results through the app and website.

Focusing on hyper-personalization, the company has built an automated system that lets users receive their own skincare products anytime, anywhere, based on their skin results. In response to a diagnosis, its urban smart factory robot, Anima, prepares two weeks’ worth of customized essence and lotion in two to three minutes and ships them to the user. The essence can be made with more than 25,000 ingredient combinations. Lili Cover conducts ingredient and cosmetics research in strategic collaboration with Kolmar Korea.

Lili Cover’s personalized skincare brand BALANX is available through its app and website. Users can easily assess their skin whether or not they own a Muli device. They can also leave feedback in the app after using the products, and that data will help the company provide product recommendations optimized for each user.

With the new funding, Lili Cover plans to develop an additional mass-production model to streamline BALANX manufacturing and equip each Anima with digital twin technology for centralized management. It also plans to further enhance its one-on-one online coaching service with skincare experts, giving individual users ongoing information about skincare.

“For the MZ generation, the question is no longer simply ‘What is good?’ but ‘What is right for me?’” said Um Min-woo, an investment manager at POSCO Technology Investment. “But existing personalized cosmetics have stopped at survey-based skin diagnoses and recommendations for off-the-shelf products, serving more as a marketing tool than meeting the MZ generation’s demand for truly personalized cosmetics. Lili Cover stands out as the only company offering a genuinely customized solution from diagnosis through production.”

“I want to help people reclaim the ability to protect their skin’s beauty themselves and continue developing online personalized services that empower users to care for their skin intelligently,” said Ahn Sun-hee, CEO of Lili Cover. “This fall, we plan to expand our skincare product line and introduce scalp care services.”