SmiLe hires Malin Sjöö to increase inflow of startup companies

Malin Sjöö

Every year, about ten new life science companies are accepted to the SmiLe incubator program following a careful assessment process. SmiLe is now creating a new position aimed at identifying even more dedicated entrepreneurs with high-quality health innovations. Malin Sjöö, a successful entrepreneur who started as a researcher at Lund University, will take up the challenge of this new position.

During her research career, Malin Sjöö came up with a method to develop a completely new emulsifier from the plant quinoa. She became a talented entrepreneur through SmiLe’s incubator program, where she developed a product that may be an environmentally sustainable alternative to today's stabilizers in creams, powders and sprays in the beauty and cosmetics segment. The product drew considerable attention and resulted in the successful sale of her company to a major international player in the cosmetics industry.

The mission of SmiLe Incubator is to support startup companies in the life sciences to enable their innovations to be launched on the market in order to provide benefit, and thereby also promote growth in the business community. SmiLe has a strong focus on having a team of senior business developers associated with the incubator, all with industry experience. Many SmiLe advisers have been CEOs of startup companies at SmiLe and decided to repay the support they received by supporting new entrepreneurs, as Malin Sjöö is doing now. The team has a total of over 300 years of life science experience to share with SmiLe member companies.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Malin Sjöö to the SmiLe team. She is just the right person to be able to strengthen our collaboration with colleges, universities and other innovation environments in order to find more innovators. Her experience of what is required of an entrepreneur and her large network of contacts in the scientific community are fabulous strengths with respect to finding and assessing even more promising innovations and entrepreneurs than we do today, which we can support to help strengthen the health and business communities,” says Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO of SmiLe Incubator.

“I look forward to being part of the SmiLe team – which supported me and my company both in early phase and when it was time to exit – and now in a completely new role, where I can contribute from a different perspective. It feels great to be able to give back by helping others who want to take an innovation from research to benefit on the market,” says Malin Sjöö.

Malin Sjöö, who took over the position in December on a part-time basis, will continue to work as CEO of her former company Speximo within IFF-Lucas Meyer Cosmetics.

For more information, please contact: Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO of SmiLe Incubator, +46(0) 7340004339, ebba@smileincubator.life