Bee venom, sheep grease, snail slime — the list of extraordinary ingredients used by the $450bn-a-year beauty world is as endless as the ways in which its elixirs are marketed. Premiumisation has long been one route to profits, with ever more expensive brands hitting the shelves.

The next move in this space may well be provided by technology. At-home devices using LED lights, lasers and electromagnetic pulses, long-espoused by dermatologists to reduce wrinkles, tone or solve specific problems, are seeking space on investors’ shelves alongside a London IPO of The Beauty Tech Group.

This is potentially an attractive pocket of the market. The beauty tech sector, according to a report for The Beauty Tech Group by consultancy OC&C, is worth up to $18bn globally. Sales have been growing at least 13 per cent a year in the US, UK and Germany since 2019. That’s more than three times the growth in the wider beauty industry, as estimated by McKinsey.