The well-known Ukrainian brand of vitamins and dietary supplements, Perla Helsa, has announced a collaboration with venture builder CLUST and entry into the Polish market. They will test a new concept – holistic beauty, which will include supplements, skincare products, various educational programs, consultations, marathons, and more.
Why Perla Helsa is entering the Polish market
The Ukrainian brand Perla Helsa appeared on the supplement market in 2018. It quickly gained popularity due to the quality of its products and an effective marketing strategy built on influencer marketing. This contributed to the rapid scaling of Perla Helsa products in Ukraine: in 2020, the brand grew eight times compared to 2019, and in 2021, it rose four times compared to 2020.
The year 2022 was also supposed to continue the growth dynamics according to plan, but the full-scale war made adjustments. In March 2022, the company began to restore logistics and fulfill orders, which made it clear that the business continues to operate despite the circumstances.
Entering the European market is a logical step for a successful business that aims to grow. Perla Helsa decided to expand into the European market from Poland, as it is the closest culturally and currently hosts about 2 million Ukrainians, some of whom are familiar with the brand.
About the partnership between Perla Helsa and CLUST and areas of responsibility
Representatives of Perla Helsa and CLUST note that cooperation began in March 2023 with communication between the companies’ founders, Denis Sakharov (CEO of Perla Helsa) and Ruslan Tymofieiev (Founder and CEO of CLUST).
“Our collaboration with CLUST is not about money but about smart investment. I could easily find money, but I delayed taking action to ‘invest and put in’ funds. I needed a team with experience in e-commerce and working with foreign markets. It was important for me to think alike and envision the future similarly. In this regard, with CLUST, we are a perfect match,” comments Denis Sakharov.
Therefore, the companies interact on the principles of partnership. CLUST, as a co-founder of the Perla project in Poland, provides:
- Investments;
- Resources – local production, payment infrastructure, logistics, assistance in team building;
- Expertise – practices and approaches to building operational management.
At the same time, the majority share remains with the founder, and the venture builder CLUST acts as a co-founder.
“The collaboration between CLUST and Perla Helsa combines our strengths: Denis’s drive to create high-quality products, his experience in building strategy, influencer marketing, and product management – from the side of Perla Helsa. And from the side of CLUST – operational experience, speed in testing hypotheses, logistics, working with local teams worldwide, expertise in building a global business worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” comments Ruslan Tymofieiev, founder of CLUST.
In Poland, the brand will be insured under the name Perla. After the official launch, the team plans to use customer acquisition tools—influencer marketing, which they are experts in in the Ukrainian market. Already, Perla is developing strategies for interacting with opinion leaders and advertising campaigns on Facebook, TikTok, Google, and more.
To implement the strategy and develop the holistic ecosystem of Perla in Poland, they are currently looking for a Chief Operating Officer (COO).
