Covalo, the leading ingredients discovery and data platform for the personal care industry, today announced a €3.5 million funding extension led by Hi inov, with participation from existing investors HTGF and seed+speed Ventures.
The round will fund Covalo’s evolution from marketplace pioneer to the industry’s trusted data infrastructure. Already, the platform connects more than 1,500 suppliers and 6,000+ brands, including leading names such as Givaudan, Symrise, PUIG, and La Prairie, and partners with organizations such as Reed Exhibitions, TraceOne, and the B Corp Beauty Coalition.
An Industry Running on Fragmented Data:
Innovation in personal care depends on ingredient data, yet that data remains scattered across organizations, systems, and formats. A single product such as a facial cream can require 35-40 raw materials, each with approximately 20 associated documents covering safety, regulatory compliance, sustainability claims, and technical specifications. These documents come in different structures, from different suppliers, using different nomenclature, with no standardized way to connect them.
The result is that R&D, regulatory, and procurement teams across the industry spend significant time on compliance, as well as the continuous collection, updating, and processing of technical data required across product development and regulatory workflows. With new regulations accelerating, including the EU Green Deal, microplastics ban, and packaging reform, approximately 80% of products are expected to require reformulation by 2030, further increasing the volume and complexity of ingredient data that companies must manage.
This fragmentation limits the industry’s ability to effectively adopt AI and advanced digital workflows, because there is no shared, structured foundation to build on.
From Discovery Platform to Data Backbone:
Covalo is addressing this challenge by building a secure, neutral platform that connects directly into suppliers’ product information management (PIM) systems and brands’ R&D and PLM workflows, replacing the emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets that still dominate how ingredient data moves across the industry. When a supplier updates a compliance certificate on Covalo, every brand using that ingredient will see the change immediately. When a brand qualifies a new ingredient, the structured data feeds directly into its formulation and procurement processes.
Yann Chilvers, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, commented: “On average, it takes 3-5 years to bring a product to market. At the end of this process, 50% of product launches fail, costing the industry hundreds of billions every year. Much of this inefficiency stems from how information is managed and shared throughout the product lifecycle; product data is the one data that flows across the entire process. The problem is that this process is highly fragmented and inefficient on an industry level. With new regulation, constant supply chain disruption, sustainability pressure, and fast changes in consumer demand, the pace of change has never been so high and companies struggle to keep up. Many companies are trying to find internal solutions to address these challenges, but what they truly need is one common data backbone that powers the industry and allows for seamless data flows across teams and partners. Covalo is that backbone.”
Timo von Bargen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, added: “Five years ago, we built the world’s largest ingredient discovery platform. What we’ve learned is that discovery is just the beginning, what the industry needs is a shared system of record where ingredient data is structured once, governed once, and reused everywhere. Our largest customers are expanding their use of the platform two- to three-fold year over year, not because we’re selling harder, but because once data is structured on Covalo, teams across R&D, regulatory, and procurement all want access. That compounding effect is something no standalone tool can replicate.”
Scale, Adoption, and Deepening Engagement:
Covalo’s position is validated by its scale, the depth of its customer relationships, and accelerating platform engagement. Platform engagement grew 84% in 2025, with 1.3 million monthly interactions and net revenue retention exceeding 145%, reflecting deepening adoption as customers expand across divisions, modules, and use cases.
Covalo partners with key industry organizations including TraceOne for regulatory data integration, Reed Exhibitions for industry event connection, and the B Corp Beauty Coalition for sustainability initiatives, among several leading industry associations. These partnerships reinforce Covalo’s role as a neutral, trusted platform at the center of the personal care ecosystem.
Wolfgang Krause, Managing Partner at Hi inov, commented: “Yann, Timo and their team are on the forefront of creating the new ingredient data infrastructure layer for the personal care industry. At Hi inov, we are impressed by Covalo’s up to date achievement in defining this emerging market and we are proud to add them to our Hi inov family.”
Alexander Kölpin, Managing Partner at seed + speed Ventures, commented: “Covalo recognized early that the biggest barrier in the personal care industry isn’t access to single ingredients, but the lack of a reliable data flow between suppliers, brands, and internal systems. Instead of getting stuck at search and visibility, Covalo is building a neutral and structured data foundation for the industry. This accelerates development, makes collaboration more efficient, and enables new AI applications in the first place.”
What’s Next:
The new funding will enable Covalo to scale its enterprise offering in key markets, launch new industry-specific AI-agents – including conversation analytics, RFI/RFP workflow automation, data extraction and enrichment, and regulatory compliance checks – and deepen its data platform with full product information management (PIM) and master data management (MDM) capabilities. The company is committed to anchor its leadership into Personal Care ahead of a future expansion into adjacent segments.
The company’s mission is clear: to make the personal care industry’s data connected, accessible, and future-ready.
