Key Takeaways:
Launched in March in partnership with UK venture studio and brand accelerator TL;DR, Rayro debuts with three refillable balm sticks targeting problem personal care areas for babies and young children. The Skin, Sleep, and Sniffle balm sticks are made with natural, vegan ingredients and essential oils. The Sleep Balm, for example, contains lavender oil, and the Sniffle Stick includes eucalyptus oil. The refillable sticks resemble fun, animal-themed children's toys and are ergonomically designed to be used by toddlers and young children. The goal? To promote smoother parent–child interactions around personal care moments that rarely interest young children.
“The overarching goal is to ease moments of tension in the everyday habits and rituals of a parent and child,” Elsie Rutterford, co-founder of Rayro, told BeautyMatter. “Parenthood is really hard, and we just kept coming back to: Is there a way to make some of it easier? We're not claiming that we're going to transform motherhood—obviously, there is no product that can do that—but what we could see is a gap in the way everyday children’s products are built.”
“Engaging and Exciting” Products for Kids
Rayro's balm sticks are designed to appeal to the child in terms of their look and feel, Rutterford explained. Each lid, for example, is the head of an animal character that can be interchanged between products. The packaging is also brightly colored, and the tube is small enough for children to hold.
Dominika Minarovic, co-founder of Rayro, said a lot of thought has gone into the usability and feel of the balm sticks for children, ensuring they can be held and applied easily and are also suitable for young skin. “Initially, our inspiration from a child psychology perspective was Montessori [method], and that whole premise of giving your child the independence they so crave. But the look and feel has gotten very far away from that because we've taken it back to basics: Kids love bright colors and things that look like toys.”
Rutterford said these products are designed to be “more engaging and exciting for the child,” ultimately creating more enjoyable moments for both parent and child.
But Rayro isn't stopping there, the founders said, with the launch of a bathroom line planned for later this year and an SPF line in early 2027. Longer term, the brand wants to be in “every room of the house,” Minarovic said. “We've got quite a lot in the pipeline. As you can imagine, we've identified many micro moments throughout the day,” she explained.
And while Rayro has debuted in skincare—an area both founders have extensive experience in—the brand won't stay solely in this space. “We're going to, quite quickly, move out of personal care,” Minarovic added. “There's a lot of ideation about accessories, potentially bridging into food, textiles, [and] clothing. The brand is not a skincare brand, it's a problem-solving kids brand for parents.”
The “Tired Mums” Community
Rayro is kickstarting online, selling via its own DTC website and on TikTok Shop in the UK and Ireland, but the founders said retail presence will be inevitable in the future.
“We would love to explore physical retail at some point, but when we envisaged the brand, we saw it as a TikTok brand. That's where the mum community is that we've engaged with and built,” Minarovic said.
Prior to the launch, the duo launched their “Two Tired Mums” profile on Instagram and TikTok, channels that have now amassed more than 35,000 followers focusing on content that inspires women navigating motherhood.
The founders have also been hosting London-based coffee mornings for mums, creating space to share experiences but also talk about the Rayro brand and its upcoming product offerings. “The format is a really nice way to introduce Rayro to parents, mainly, and get product feedback and help us develop ideas and the future of the brand,” Rutterford said.
Minarovic added that the hope is that this online community can help build Rayro through social selling, word-of-mouth, and mum-to-mum recommendations. “Mums are the most important peer-to-peer recommendation customer group. We've looked at other categories in depth, and there's just something about mum-to-mum recommendations that just trumps any other category.”
Bybi Synergies and Learnings
Rayro's short-term business plan is very different from how Bybi started out in 2017, entering very quickly into beauty retailers like Sephora and Boots as the brand pushed to bring sustainable beauty to the masses. “At Bybi, we made an active decision to go wholesale from the start,” Rutterford explained. “It was a conscious, omnichannel strategy, and it got us into some incredible retailers. But in doing that, we potentially sacrificed the DTC side of the business.”
With Rayro, she said they are taking the opposite approach, focusing sharply on DTC and building direct relationships with consumers. “Parents are actively seeking out products for their children; they want to understand what they're buying and why, and that lends itself to a direct relationship.”
The duo will also be tackling international expansion very differently this time round, Rutterford said. “Scaling Bybi globally taught us how much resource and focus international expansion actually demands—more than most founders anticipate. It can pull your attention away from markets where you are still building, and it is hard to execute remotely. For Rayro, we're being much more intentional about that. We'll expand internationally, but on our terms and timeline—not because an opportunity appeared and we said yes.”
But while there is lots that will be done differently at Rayro, there are also plenty of similarities and learnings the co-founders are taking from their seven years behind Bybi.
Rayro, for example, is funded via a Virgin StartUp loan—the same way Bybi was launched. Virgin StartUp, a not-for-profit backed by business mogul Richard Branson, offers fixed-rate startup loans to early-stage businesses in the UK, from £500 ($660) to £25,000 ($33,300) per founder. Business advisors are also on hand to help with processes and growth plans. To date, Virgin StartUp has funded over 7,000 founders across the UK. Rutterford and Minarovic secured £50,000 ($66,800) in funding for Rayro. “It’s really nice to come full circle,” said Rutterford. “With Virgin StartUp, we've already been heavily involved in what they do; we're Virgin StartUp mentors too. The way we've built [Rayro] means we don't need super-intensive funding. The loan is the right amount and the right mechanic for where the business is now. Whether it changes in the future is to be seen. There may be a moment when we look to do a bigger and more formal fundraiser.”
Beyond funding similarities, Rayro is also taking on Bybi’s refillable packaging model, along with its bright and engaging aesthetic. “What we tried to solve with Bybi was clean skincare feeling neutral, boring, and not particularly engaging for adults. Our answer to that was this 'wow,' pop-off-the-shelf, hugely bright and fun brand. And if I look at this, there are many synergies with Rayro,” Rutterford said.
In terms of experience, the founders said Rayro will also benefit from their expertise in natural skincare formulation, sustainable beauty, refills, and online community content. Minarovic said the partnership with TL;DR also brings forward solid experience in digital consumer goods launches. “We're excited and we're ambitious, and there's a clear gap for what we're creating,” she said.
Rutterford added, “In terms of metrics, we've got our sights set high. We're starting streamlined and focused; that's definitely because we've learned a lot about running a consumer brand and building and scaling a consumer brand, but that doesn't mean we stay like that.”
Bybi Is Back
Coincidentally, Bybi, which halted business soon after the two founders exited in 2024, is due to relaunch in March.
Looking back at the exit, Rutterford said it “wasn't exactly the way” the duo had foreseen the process happening. “When we built Bybi, the plan around exit had always been to be a part of the next chapter too. But as the business evolved, it became clear that our energy and ambition were pointing somewhere new. Rayro had been taking shape in our minds for a while, and at a certain point, we made the decision to back ourselves and go and build it.”
While the co-founders have had zero involvement in Bybi since exiting, both are looking forward to seeing products hit the market again. “We built something that we're incredibly proud of, and everybody loved, so we're thrilled to see it come back,” Minarovic said. Rutterford added, “We're very much cheering on from the sidelines.”