Shakiba Kaveh, founder and CEO of Mitra Bio, has dedicated nearly a decade to developing a method for reading skin biology without invasive procedures. Her company is now preparing to offer this tool directly to consumers.
Kaveh, who holds a PhD in materials science from Cambridge, began her career at L'Oréal, where she was tasked with finding a biomarker to prove the efficacy of sunscreen. This early challenge exposed what she describes as a significant gap between the marketing claims of skincare products and the ability to objectively measure their real-world performance. This frustration, coupled with her personal desire for scientific evidence behind the products she used, fueled her motivation to make skincare marketing more scientific.
After a period in management consulting, Kaveh joined the Entrepreneur First accelerator program in 2020, which led to the formation of Mitra Bio.
Mitra Bio's approach addresses what Kaveh identifies as a fundamental problem in the $200 billion skincare industry: the reliance on subjective evaluations, such as visual inspection, rather than biological measurements. While other areas of wellness have seen increased adoption of data-driven health monitoring through wearables and tests, Kaveh argues that skincare has lacked comparable objective tracking tools.
The difficulty, according to Kaveh, lies in a sampling problem. Traditional methods for analyzing skin biology have often involved punch biopsies or reliance on photographic and visual assessments. These methods, while useful, may not provide sufficient insight into the underlying biological processes. Kaveh encountered this limitation firsthand and found that other researchers faced similar challenges in identifying effective biomarkers and ingredients.
Mitra Bio's technology utilizes an adhesive patch to painlessly collect live skin cells. These cells are then sequenced to analyze DNA and epigenetic information, providing a biological profile of skin aging, inflammation, and UV damage. The company describes this as a non-invasive epigenetic skin test. Central to this is what Mitra Bio calls an epigenetic clock, a set of genes whose methylation patterns change with skin age. The test is designed to estimate skin age, photodamage, and potential indicators related to skin cancer from a single sample.
The scientific basis for this technology has been published in npj Aging, with patent applications pending for various aspects. Mitra Bio's platform is already used by leading skincare and pharmaceutical companies for clinical trials where biopsies are impractical, establishing it as a business-to-business solution for researchers and dermatologists.
Mitra Bio is now transitioning to a direct-to-consumer model. The process involves customers ordering a kit, self-sampling their forehead at home, and mailing the sample to a U.S.-based lab. Results, including recommendations on skincare, lifestyle, and interventions, are expected within four weeks. The company claims the test can help users track the effectiveness of treatments in potentially lowering their measured skin age.
A pre-launch beta program is scheduled for November 2026 in the U.S., involving approximately 100 individuals from a waitlist, who will also receive a coaching session. The company is supported by a team of 15 scientists and engineers, along with investors and dermatology advisors.
Kaveh envisions the test as the initial step in creating a "skin longevity concierge" service, aiming for long-term outcomes rather than short-term promises, drawing parallels to existing models in other health sectors addressing issues like menopause or weight loss. She believes this approach is necessary to address the significant impact of skin conditions, which affect half of all individuals in their lifetime.
By enabling non-invasive access to skin biology data from a large population, Mitra Bio aims to advance the understanding of how various treatments affect the skin. Kaveh views the commercialization of the product as a distinct challenge from its development, assembling a consumer-focused team through a process of experimentation and iteration.
Ultimately, Mitra Bio's core proposition is to replace subjective beliefs about skin health with measurable, scientific data. Kaveh has spent years developing this concept from a laboratory finding into a consumer product, and the upcoming beta test will gauge consumer demand for objective skin health information in an industry often driven by marketing.