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Lady Gaga's Fiancé Launches Skin-Tissue Startup With $23M
Outer Biosciences uses live human skin from plastic surgery to test cosmetics ingredients, backed by $23M from top VCs. Lady Gaga sits on the board. Her fiancé Michael Polansky co-founded the startup.
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Michael Polansky, the 42-year-old Harvard graduate engaged to Lady Gaga, has launched a biotechnology startup that uses live human skin from plastic surgery to test cosmetic and pharmaceutical ingredients. Outer Biosciences raised $23 million from leading Silicon Valley venture firms, according to the company. Lady Gaga sits on its board of directors.
The company takes "full-thickness" skin tissue discarded during surgeries and keeps it alive for up to a month, Polansky told TechCrunch. That allows researchers to study how specific molecules and chemical mechanisms affect skin health – something not possible with animal models or synthetic skin substitutes, the company's website says. Pharmaceutical and beauty brands use the data to identify which ingredients actually work on living human tissue.
Outer Biosciences was co-founded in 2022 by Polansky, Kyung-Jin Jang, Chris Hinojosa and Stanley King. The $23 million round was backed by several top Silicon Valley firms; the company did not name them in the interview. Polansky said the technology fills a gap in the testing market, where most models cannot replicate the complexity of live human skin.