Bringing new products to market can be really tough because of all the rules and regulations you have to follow. These rules change a lot, and they can be different in every part of the world. This is a big problem for companies that want to sell cosmetics because they need to meet these rules in each place they sell.
But there’s good news! Worldover, based in London has made a way to make this process faster, easier, and cheaper for cosmetic companies of all sizes. They help these companies follow the rules and get their products out there.
Seed funding to emerge from Beta
Now, Worldover has emerged out of beta and has raised £3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Index Ventures and Chalfen Ventures (which recently backed Translucent and 5Mins), with support from Entrepreneur First and Plug and Play Ventures.
Edward Alun-Jones, CEO and co-founder commented: “We want to reduce the pain involved with bringing physical products to market. Currently, companies are spending up to 1% of their total revenue on making their products compliant through consultancy costs or the need for extensive internal teams which manually process documents. We’ve greatly accelerated the process by automating much of the data extraction. We’re starting with a laser focus on cosmetics, but our vision is to eventually enable any business to launch any product in any market.”
Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, Partner at Index Ventures said: “Across multiple categories, there is an urgent need to simplify global compliance. With rules only getting more complicated and divergent across geographies, Worldover’s solution to auto-generate documentation is a much-needed innovation and a timely one. Solving this problem requires real-world experience, extensive knowledge and strong technical know-how: a unique skill set that is held by Ed and Chris – I’m excited to work with them as Worldover grows.”
Helps companies bring physical products to new markets
Founded in 2022 by Edward Alun-Jones and Christopher Gudde, who joined together during the Entrepreneur First London programme, Worldover is working to remove the compliance barriers for cosmetic companies to sell in any market, ensuring that physical products can more easily be launched nationally and internationally.
By automating much of the manual data work required, the platform is able to reduce the time taken to achieve compliance by up to 90% and the cost by up to three times. It also serves as a collaborative management system for all compliance projects, with data and documentation updated across the supply and value chain in real-time, ensuring compliance is always up to date.
Further, Worldover is working with certification bodies, including the International Fragrance Association, to help ease the pathway for businesses to achieve accreditations. Initially launching in cosmetics, the software has been made for use across any industry at scale, with plans to bring more sectors online in the future.
