Now, Ingrosso is planning to expand her business across Europe (notably the UK) and the US, with press activity to build brand awareness and drive DTC. This starts next week with intimate dinners held in London and New York for select journalists and influencers. She’s also weighing retail pop-ups in Europe and the US to boost brand awareness.
The 29-year-old is a member of Sweden’s Wahlgren-Ingrosso family, referred to by some as Scandinavia’s answer to the Kardashians. The family has a reality show titled Wahlgrens World, now in its 11th season. Ingrosso’s mother is the famous Swedish singer Pernilla Wahlgren, her cousin is Swedish House Mafia star Sebastian Ingrosso, her brother is pop star Benjamin Ingrosso and her elder brother Oliver is a DJ, singer, actor and restaurateur, along with her father Emilio Ingrosso.
If the Wahlgren Ingrossos are the Kardashians of Sweden, Bianca Ingrosso is the Kylie Jenner. Not dissimilar to Kylie Cosmetics HQ, Caia’s 30-strong team works in a brightly lit office, with pale pink and white soft furnishings and backlit shelves of products, also in millennial pink. After her interview with Vogue Business at Caia HQ, Ingrosso is heading across town to film an episode of her weekly talk show, Bianca, with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Caia is one of a number of influencer-launched beauty brands that have gained mainstream popularity in the Nordic regions over the last few years, thanks in part to their affordable or mid-range market positioning, says Emilija Balsytė, research analyst at Euromonitor. Others include Ida Warg, Hickap, Camilla Pihl and Glöd. And as Scandi beauty labels like Byredo and other budding fragrance brands increasingly find success abroad, there’s somewhat of a blueprint for Caia to follow.
Still, Ingrosso recognises that it’s not going to be easy to break through in new markets, where she’s less well-known and up against stiff competition. Incumbents like Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics or Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty have similar branding and social media tones and founders with over 100 times the followers. How will Caia stand out? “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, just perhaps we’ll be more colourful, be bigger, be better,” says Ingrosso. “We will make it more about the products because I won’t have my audience.”