Shiseido Acquires Breakthrough Technology From Olivo Laboratories

TOKYO – JANUARY 12, 2018 ; NEW YORK – JANUARY 11, 2018 – Shiseido Company, Limited (Tokyo Stock Exchange, First Section: 4911) (“Shiseido”), a leading global cosmetics company, announced today that its regional headquarters and consolidated subsidiary, Shiseido Americas Corporation (“Shiseido Americas”), has acquired substantially all of the assets of Olivo Laboratories, LLC (“Olivo”). Olivo is a Polaris Partners-backed Massachusetts-based startup advancing the dermatological field through proprietary biomaterials technology, including its pioneering XPLTM* “Second Skin” technology. The CEO is Polaris Partner Amy Schulman. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
*Cross-linking Polymer Layer

Olivo’s patented approach creates a breathable, flexible and nearly invisible artificial skin, that offers a number of benefits previously unachievable through traditional cosmetics or even cosmetic surgery. Olivo was founded by renowned scientists including Dr. Robert Langer*, David H. Koch Institute Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Rox Anderson, Head of the Wellman Center of Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Dan Anderson, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Olivo research and development team will join the Shiseido Americas organization as part of the transaction.
* Dr. Langer received more than 220 awards including the Charles Stark Draper Prize, United States National Medal of Science, Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering and the 2014 Kyoto Prize.

This acquisition is the latest in a series of initiatives supported by Shiseido and its Global Innovation Center to further expand its global beauty innovation footprint. Combining Olivo's innovative technology with Shiseido’s research and development capabilities marks a significant leap forward in the emerging realm of ”skin shape correction,” and paves the way for the development of products that provide instant and significantly enhanced skincare and suncare.

Masahiko Uotani, President and CEO of Shiseido, said, “Our transaction with Olivo is an exciting next step in our ongoing pursuit to create entirely new categories of beauty products at a global scale as a part of our VISION 2020, middle to long term strategy. Olivo’s ground-breaking ‘Second Skin’ technology will join Shiseido’s already robust innovation portfolio, which includes the personalization technology startup MATCHCo, the artificial intelligence-empowered beauty company Giaran, and our own Shiseido-developed OPTUNE, a digital, personalized skincare platform. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues at Olivo and benefiting from the expertise of Dr. Langer as we continue to reinvent the beauty industry and to create new products tailored to each of our customers’ unique and personal ideals of beauty.”

Dr. Robert Langer, Co-Founder of Olivo, stated, “We use science to break down and tackle problems. Here, we were able to really solve a pervasive problem and create a platform with novel biomaterials. Shiseido provides an exciting opportunity to continue executing on that mission and to further demonstrate the many capabilities of our XPL platform. We look forward to the future when we unlock the XPL Second Skin’s full potential across a range of different applications.”

Amy Schulman, CEO of Olivo, noted that, “We are delighted to work with Shiseido, a company that has the vision, resources and talent to be pioneers in beauty science and to create a new standard for skincare in the beauty industry.”

Marc Rey, President and CEO of Shiseido Americas, added, “As the evolution of beauty-dedicated technologies continues apace, it becomes increasingly important for companies like Shiseido Group to take an external view when it comes to innovation and product development. By joining forces with leaders in scientific research like Dr. Langer and the Olivo team, we will continue to meet the demands of the consumer while offering the very latest advances in science and beauty.”