Upwell Cosmetics has industry-sized aspirations for its new microalgae-derived wax base.
Formulated as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based and animal-derived waxes, the wax has the ability to be used in myriad beauty and personal care products including sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, lip products and more.
The key ingredient is microalgae isochrysis, which scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution discovered synthesizes a compound called alkenones, which creates a wax-like consistency when extracted.
Upwell cofounders Daniella Zakon and Alexandra Dowling Lari — who happen to be Woods Hole, Massachusetts, natives themselves — licensed the ingredient patent from the Institution, and are now focused on scaling production enough for the wax to be a viable alternative to existing prevalent wax bases, which are often made from non-renewable resources, for use by brands.
“At the beginning, we’re definitely targeting those more ocean-based, clean and green beauty brands, but we do want to work with the conglomerates,” said Zakon, an ecologist who enlisted the beauty business expertise of her childhood friend and Fresh veteran, Dowling Lari, to help jumpstart Upwell. “We want to decarbonize the cosmetics industry and to be the new standard wax in the industry, and we aim to be there within the next five to seven years.”
With full or partial chemical sunscreen bans having been enacted in coastal areas such as Hawaii, Mexico, Aruba, Florida and other geographies due to their harm to reef ecosystems, the SPF category in particular provides ripe ground for Upwell’s wax base.
“We’ve already talked to a number of sunscreen brands who are racing to make reef-safe sunscreens and can’t use petroleum, for whom our algae wax is perfect, because it comes from the ocean,” said Dowling Lari, adding that while Upwell is focusing on its supply business, part of its mission is also to “educate a new generation of consumers on how the ocean can be a climate solution in all different spaces, but starting with cosmetics.”