MILAN — Italy’s trendy beauty brand Veralab is ready to go international.

The digital-native brand, which was founded by social personality Cristina Fogazzi, has been growing exponentially since its launch in 2015, and is prepping to expand beyond national borders starting this fall.

Chief executive officer Paolo Deponti, who succeeded Mauro Marcolin at the end of last year, outlined the company’s next steps on Thursday, when Veralab’s new offices here were unveiled.

“It’s an important moment for the brand,” said Deponti. “After 10 years, we’re shifting from being an Italian indie label to a structured company that is ready to become a global brand and these new offices serve the purpose of making that kind of statement.”

Deponti revealed that the expansion will start with the Spanish market, where Veralab has signed an exclusive distribution deal with El Corte Inglés. As a result, it will launch at 25 doors of the department store across the country starting with Madrid in October and quickly followed by shops-in-shop in key cities including Barcelona, Seville and Bilbao, among others.

“For the first time we enter physically in an international market. Last year we launched our website targeted to Spain but it was more to build the brand awareness,” said Deponti. “After 12 months of investments, we saw an incredible demand, so now it’s time [to respond] to that.”

The executive underscored the importance of the brick-and-mortar channel for the brand, especially for the community-building aspect that is central to the company and has marked Fogazzi’s success since the beginning. 

Hence the firm is accelerating its physical rollout in Italy, too. To mark its 10th anniversary this year, it invested in opening 10 stand-alone stores in the domestic market, which will add to the first flagship opened in Milan in 2019 and the one in Rome unveiled in 2021.

In the last couple of months, Veralab outposts opened in cities such as Padua, Turin and Bologna. Another door in Rome was unveiled earlier this month, while the brand will open a pop-up in Milan’s central Cordusio area to coincide with Milan Beauty Week, running Sept. 17 to 21. This will be turned into a flagship on Nov. 1, adding to permanent outposts to open at the Centrale and Termini train stations in Milan and Rome, respectively, in the fall.

The brand has been investing in an omnichannel strategy over the years, having expanded distribution at retailers including the Rinascente department store and the Pinalli and Naima perfumery chains, as well as at local pharmacies, reaching more than 1,000 sales points in Italy.

Deponti — who has a background in developing omnichannel strategies with previous stints at the likes of Sephora, L’Occitane en Provence and, most recently, as vice president and general manager for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region of MAC Cosmetics — particularly enthused about how the company was able to translate its digital success into the physical channel. To be sure, he claimed that Veralab generated 65 million euros in online sales across all retail formats in Italy last year, coming after only multibrand marketplaces like Amazon, Notino, Sephora and Douglas.

The brand’s general manager Raffaella Dagna said overall sellout across all retail channels for skin care products totaled 90 million euros, while the brand’s makeup line Overskin’s sellout was 15 million euros last year, but projected to grow to 25 million euros in 2025.

In 2024, the company generated total sales of 75 million euros, up 1.4 percent compared to the previous year. In 2023, sales grew 12.5 percent compared to the 64 million euros registered in 2022.

The business’ real turning point was the pandemic, when it boomed and almost doubled its 2019 sales to reach 55 million euros in 2020, boosted by its catchy communication and affordable prices. 

Quickly rising to be one of the most successful companies in the country’s beauty scene, the brand has always leveraged the spontaneous spirit and popularity of Fogazzi, best known as Estetista Cinica (or Cynical Aesthetician, in English).

As owner of the Bellavera beauty salon opened in Milan in 2009, Fogazzi created a blog to share her experience and answer questions from local beauty aficionados, ranging from depilation to anti-cellulite tips. Her bubbly, girl-next-door attitude and suggestions rooted in self-acceptance and body inclusivity quickly gained her a large following — now counting one million users on Instagram — which eventually convinced her to capitalize on her influence and launch the Veralab skin- and body-care brand. In 2023, the brand expanded into color cosmetics with the launch of the Overskin makeup line, further garnering customers’ favor and investors’ attention.

So much so that last year European private equity Peninsula Capital took a 30 percent stake in Veralab’s parent company Reforme Srl, as reported.

“The strength of the company in Italy — one of the most competitive markets in beauty globally — the inclusive message that defines the brand, and Cristina’s energy and entrepreneurial vision constitute a unique and exceptional basis on which to work to turn Veralab into one of the leaders in European beauty,” Peninsula said in a statement at the time of the deal.

Fogazzi found in Peninsula “the ideal partner, thanks to its presence in markets that are strategic for Veralab and its consolidated experience in the consumer retail segment, and in beauty in particular.”

To be sure, this wasn’t the first investment in beauty for the private equity firm. As reported, Peninsula Capital invested in Kiko SpA in 2018 through an 80 million euro capital increase. In 2022, Kiko’s founding family Percassi bought back the 38 percent stake Peninsula Capital had held and regained full control of the company until L Catterton acquired a majority stake last year.

Peninsula still retains a minority stake in Zadig & Voltaire and MC2 Saint Barth, the Italian brand that specializes in the holiday-wear segment, among other investments in different fields. Last year it also took a minority stake in Italian independent high-end jewelry manufacturer Mattioli. In 2017, the fund invested in the NTV-Italo high-speed train service, which was first developed by Diego Della Valle with former Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.