Tipperary native sells beauty brand to US company

Irish company, Bia Beauty founded by Tipperary native, Tracey Ryan has been acquired for an undisclosed sum and integrated into Codex Beauty. Ireland will continue to play a unique role in the evolution of the Codex Beauty story with their first Bia collection which launches across the US and Europe this month following investment from venture capital firm, Sekhmet Ventures, a beauty and wellness venture capital firm. Established by Sekhmet Ventures’ founding partner Barbara Paldus, Codex is a global collective of skincare brands, dedicated to offering all-natural, science-backed beauty products to consumers of all ages and skin types.

Tracey Ryan, originally from Thurles, Co. Tipperary and founder of Bia will stay on with the company as Master Formulator and Managing Director of Codex Beauty Europe, Barbara Paldus will act as CEO of Codex Beauty. Originally from Tipperary, Tracey Ryan is an herbal scientist who grew up making potions from plants that she foraged and harvested near her home. She created the Bia Beauty brand originally on her kitchen table while still a student and a new mom in Cork and a €5,000 loan from the credit union and grew and developed to being sold through more than 100 retailers nationwide. Up until the Codex acquisition, Tracey ran Bia as a family business with no more than 5 people in its workforce in a small factory in Cork.

As Bia Beauty has become part of Codex Beauty Europe, Ireland will be the hub for European operations. It will also continue doing R&D, development and technology transfer in Cork. Therefore, as the company grows, Codex Beauty will continue adding positions in these key functional areas, as well as logistics and service support functions for DTC sales in Europe. It is estimated that the project will increase the number of people from the current 6 to 20 over the next 2/3 years.

“This is really new for me to be part of a global team and be able to have the experts that I’ve always wanted to have at my fingertips now, experts in regulations, sales and marketing,” said Tracey. “It’s absolutely a dream come true for a small brand like Bia. A benefit of teaming up with Codex is the ability to conduct clinical trials, which we previously couldn’t afford. The results of the first trial have been outstanding so far.”

“Ireland has a sense of entrepreneurship, excellent educational institutions with one of the few European herbal sciences programs at CIT, very clean sources of both terrestrial and marine organic flora, and a great source of people with experience in biotechnology. This confluence of factors makes Ireland and in particular Cork very unique” said Barbara Paldus, founder of Codex Beauty.
Codex Beauty is a global collective of clean beauty skincare brands that is responsibly revolutionising how the world views and maintains optimal skin health using ancient herbal traditions, innovative, vegan formulations, unprecedented quality standards and pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing, science, and transparency. By developing products using carefully selected ingredients, formulation innovation, and information transparency, Codex Beauty is empowering skin care customers with the products and peace- of-mind they deserve.
Codex Beauty is launching June 27 and will be available to purchase from www.codexbeauty.com