New Products: Niches & Nooks, a fresh and witty approach to intimate care. Fine’ry entered Roblox recently. Being Frenshe launched a new Hair Wellness collection this year.

Comments: Maesa works to redefine what’s possible in beauty. Its people and partners are a creative force that catalyzes the possibilities in beauty to break through traditional limits and discover the new without restriction. The company’s #MaesaMagicIncubator was created in response to the entrepreneurial access gap and aims to empower and amplify early-stage, underrepresented voices in the beauty and wellness sectors. The beauty and wellness industry has created an abundance of incubator programs for specific under-served populations over the past decade, but time and time again, early-stage entrepreneurs are ineligible due to a lack of revenue or inability to be shelf-ready, according to Maesa.

Privately-held Maesa says it has managed to double its revenue from 2020 to 2023. The New York-based company, which is part of Bain, continues to grow its roster of incubated brands. The current roster includes Kristin Ess, Hairitage, Being Frenshe, Fine’ry, Mix:Bar, Koze Place, Flower, TPH and ITK. Most have rolled out new products this year, including Kristin Ess, Hairitage, Being Frenshe and Fine’ry.

As this issue went to press, Maesa said it had sold the Andrew Fitzsimons hair care line back its founder, celebrity hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons. It launched in 2022. Fitzsimons plans to expand the brand internationally and will run the business from Dublin, Ireland.

Sales: $328 million

In just a quarter of a century, Maesa has grown from one of many private label companies serving the personal care space to the rapid-fire incubator behind some of the hottest new brands in beauty. In fact, CEO Piyush Jain says the company is the No. 1 beauty incubator in mass.

Recent new hires at Maesa include Oshiya Savur (chief brand officer), Sharon White (chief people officer), Carlos Lagravere (chief operating officer) and Erin Keating (chief customer officer).

Maesa’s major brands include Flower, Kristin Ess, Hey Humans, Hairitage, TPH, Anomaly and Believe Beauty. One of its newest is Kōze Place, a home fragrance line that rolled out exclusively in Dollar General earlier this year.  Kōze Place is available in nine scents including Passionfruit & Hibiscus, Vanilla Bliss & Orchid and Fresh Lavender & Cotton. The product line includes scented candles, wax melts, diffuser oils and air and fabric sprays, all of which are paraben-free, phthalate-free, formaldehyde-free, lead-free and cruelty-free.

“Kōze Place provides everything our customer is looking for at a value without any sacrifice to quality, aesthetic or experience,” said Lauren Bowers, senior buyer of home cleaning at Dollar General.

Maesa is looking to win in fine fragrance, too, adding its second scent line, Fine’ry, which is exclusive to Target.

Sales: $241 million

Maesa’s heritage is in contract manufacturing, but the company has become an incubator with a growing collection of brands that range from Flower by Drew Barrymore to Hey Humans, which was created with Jada Pinkett Smith. Maesa is also the maker of private label products sold by Target, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty and Walmart.

Recent developments from Maesa-incubated brands include Hey Human’s expansion into 6,000-plus Walgreens nationally and walgreens.com, and TPH by Taraji’s new body care line that is exclusive to Walmart. TPH’s new range includes 13 products in skin-toned packaging, including Good Daze gel cleanser, The Leave-On daily lotion and Softer Than A Mutha body butter.