Launch Date: March 2022
Geography: London, United Kingdom
Founder: Katey Mandy, Founder + CEO
Executive Team:
2026 Full Year Projected Revenue: $2M - $5M
Primary Category: Skincare
Funding: Venture Capital
Primary Distribution Channel: Prestige
Other Distribution Channels:
Key Retail Partners:
2026 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 150
Raeso is pioneering a new category in skincare through Circadian Skin Science, built on a single, radical belief: Skin is not static but an intelligent biological system that operates in rhythm.
Founded by New Zealand-born beauty veteran Katey Mandy, Raeso does not treat skin the same way at all hours. Products are instead formulated to align with the skin's natural 24-hour cycle—supporting defense by day and repair by night, engineered to work when skin is most receptive.
Importantly, Raeso is not science-washing trends; it is actively advancing the scientific conversation. The brand has published white papers and collaborated with leading DNA repair scientist Daniel B. Yarosh, with research published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science, demonstrating that skin penetration is measurably faster at night, with significantly greater visible improvement from evening application versus morning use.
Underpinning the science are New Zealand botanicals evolved under some of the world's harshest UV conditions—ingredients with an innate resilience that mirrors the brand's philosophy.
Raeso represents a new generation of biologically aligned skincare: rigorous, rhythmic, and built for the skin you actually have.
Insights: Katey Mandy, Founder + CEO
Why now and why you?
Circadian biology has been validated by Nobel Prize-winning science, yet skincare has completely ignored it. The consumer is ready—they're tracking sleep, wearing Whoop bands, asking why their wellness is timed but their skincare isn't. I'm the person to do this because I've spent years at the intersection of skin science and brand building, I'm from New Zealand where UV pressure forced nature to solve for resilience first, and I'm obsessed enough to publish white papers rather than just write copy.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
Three things that are genuinely hard to replicate: proprietary chronobiology research published in peer-reviewed science; New Zealand botanicals with a natural UV resilience story no other brand can authentically claim; and a philosophy that creates a new category rather than competing in an existing one. We're not a better moisturizer. We're a different operating system for skin.
What’s your proudest accomplishment to date?
Getting our research published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science alongside Yarosh, one of the world's leading DNA repair scientists. That wasn't a marketing move. That was proof that the science holds. It told me we weren't building a brand on a trend; we were building it on something real.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
Vision is the easy part. Execution—supply chains, retail conversations, consumer education— is where new categories are won or lost. Nobody tells you that building something that doesn't exist yet means you're also building the shelf it sits on.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
Don't apologize for how long it takes to do something properly. Speed is overrated. Depth isn't.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
Commercially, I want RAESO in the hands of the top 1% of skincare buyers in five key markets. And culturally, I want us to have shifted the conversation: Skin has a rhythm, and the industry needs to respect it.
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
Overhyped: ingredient stacking. More actives, higher percentages, longer INCI lists; it's become theater. What's being overlooked is timing. You can have the most sophisticated formula on the planet and still apply it when skin has the least capacity to absorb it. Chronobiology shows us that when you apply matters as much as what you apply.
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
It needs to stop marketing to a hypothetical skin type and start respecting skin as a biological system. That means moving from ingredient obsession to biological alignment—understanding the skin's circadian rhythm, its repair windows, its defense cycles. Science should lead and aesthetics should follow, not the other way round.
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
That the industry stops leading with ingredients and starts leading with biology because women deserve skincare that works with them, not just on them. That shift, from “when do I apply this” to “when is my skin most receptive,” is the difference between a habit and an understanding. That's what RAESO is here to make possible.