Former Biotech Exec Rolls Out Multibrand Beauty Business

Barbara Paldus is planning to use her outsider status to her advantage in the beauty industry. Paldus, who built two Silicon Valley start-ups, including Finesse Solutions, a biotech business that Thermo Fisher Scientific bought in 2017, is channeling her entrepreneurial energy into the beauty category. Using money from the sale of Finesse, Paldus has created a fund called Sekhmut Ventures, which will invest in beauty and wellness businesses, including her first operation — Codex. Codex will be a multibrand beauty company, and will unveil its initial line in June. Called Bia, it will launch five stockkeeping units for summer, and five more in the fall. Prices range from $42 to $85. The line is meant to provide a basic skin-care routine at affordable prices, Paldus said. The products are clinically tested — something she insisted on after her time in biotech — and contain a plant-based preservative blend that Paldus worked to develop. Bia, an Irish business Paldus acquired and integrated into Codex, will be sold online. The business plans to have global scale — it already has Irish, U.K. and U.S. operations, and is planning to open Singapore and China businesses in the next six months, Paldus said. Codex also intends to roll out

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