Estée Lauder Bets $1.7 Billion on Deciem as Its New Brand Incubator

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7.27.2026

Quick Facts

Estée Lauder Companies completed its full acquisition of Deciem on May 31, 2024, paying $860 million for the remaining stake, bringing the total investment to approximately $1.7 billion.
The Ordinary ranks top two in prestige skin care in the U.S. and Canada, with Deciem on track for nearly $700 million in net sales in fiscal 2024.
Deciem is reviving its brand incubator engine, relaunching The Chemistry Brand in April 2026 with a $12 anti-aging hand cream as its hero product.

Estée Lauder Companies is turning to Deciem for more than just The Ordinary. The $1.7 billion acquisition completed in May 2024 is now the foundation for a broader brand-building strategy inside one of the world’s largest beauty conglomerates.

ELC first invested in the Canadian beauty group in 2017, took a majority stake in 2021, and closed on the remaining interests on May 31, 2024, using cash on hand. The final tranche cost $860 million.

Deciem was founded in 2013 by the late Brandon Truaxe. The company built its own manufacturing, lab, e-commerce, retail stores, and marketing infrastructure from the start. That vertical integration is a core part of what ELC acquired.

The Ordinary, launched in August 2016, drove Deciem’s rise. The brand posted net sales near $460 million in 2021. By fiscal 2024, Deciem was approaching $700 million in total net sales, with theordinary.com alone generating $113.6 million in online revenue.

The Ordinary now ranks top two in prestige skin care in the U.S. and Canada and top four in France, Germany, and the U.K., based on data through the quarter ended March 31, 2024. ELC classifies it as a scaling brand with net sales between $500 million and $1 billion.

ELC President and CEO Fabrizio Freda called Deciem a digitally native organization with a highly engaged following among millennial and Gen Z consumers. “We believe there are many more exciting growth opportunities ahead,” he said at the time of the acquisition close.

Deciem CEO Nicola Kilner, who co-founded the company alongside Truaxe, said the partnership allowed Deciem to strengthen operations and enter new markets while maintaining its founding values. “Today The Estée Lauder Companies becomes the forever home of DECIEM,” she said.

ELC has used its international network to push The Ordinary into India, the Middle East, South Africa, and most recently China, where the brand launched through a Sephora partnership in 2025.

Beyond geographic expansion, ELC is now activating Deciem’s incubator model. Deciem is reviving The Chemistry Brand, a science-led body care line it discontinued four years ago. The relaunch centers on a single hero product: Hand Chemistry, an anti-aging hand cream featuring copper tripeptide, priced from $12. It goes live via direct-to-consumer on April 2, 2026.

The Chemistry Brand was one of the original labels in Deciem’s incubator portfolio alongside NIOD and The Ordinary. Its return signals that ELC sees Deciem not just as a vehicle for scaling one brand but as a platform for building and testing new ones.

The global skincare market reached $178.63 billion in 2025 and is estimated at $190 billion in 2026. For ELC, which has faced headwinds across parts of its portfolio, Deciem’s operational model and consumer credibility offer a template for what brand-building can look like inside a large corporate structure.