Nursem
Nursem is a UK-based DTC therapeutic skincare brand selling hand cream, body care, hand wash, and targeted treatments primarily to nurses and consumers with dry, eczema-prone skin, anchored to a "Nursem Promise" donate-one-month-per-sale impact mechanic and sold via Shopify, subscriptions, corporate gifting, and stockist channels across approximately 45 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Nursem does
Nursem, operated by Better Health Limited, is a UK-based direct-to-consumer therapeutic skincare brand founded by a former paediatric intensive care nurse (Antonia) and her husband (Jonny) to address occupational hand damage among healthcare workers. The company's flagship product is the Caring Hand Cream — a natural-ingredient formulation developed over seven years in collaboration with nurses, scientists and skincare professionals, designed to soothe, repair and protect dry, cracked and eczema-prone skin rather than merely moisturise the surface. The portfolio has since expanded to include hand wash, ultra caring body balm, targeted skin-fix treatment, fragrance-free clinical variants, gift sets, multi-pack value bundles, and a Build-Your-Own Bundle tool, all sold at $20-$60 unit price points.
The brand is anchored to the "Nursem Promise" social-impact mechanic, which donates a month's worth of free hand cream to a nurse or midwife for every product sold; the company reports 751,203 nurses supported and a cumulative base of over one million customers, with 93% recommending the brand to a friend. Nursem distributes through a Shopify-hosted storefront localised across approximately 45 country/currency combinations, a Subscribe & Save subscription programme offering 10% off with free shipping and skip/swap/cancel flexibility, a Corporate Gifting programme, a Stockist wholesale channel, and a Healthcare Partner programme. Marketing runs on a multi-channel stack of Klaviyo email, Meta and TikTok paid social, Google and Bing paid search, organic social, and earned media in mainstream UK publications including Vogue, The Times, The Independent, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health and Vanity Fair.
The company is privately held, has not disclosed revenue or headcount figures of record (firmographics indicate 1-10 employees), and has one disclosed external funding event — a $801,151 Crowdcube retail-investor round closed in October 2023. Operating geographies span the UK (primary), US, EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, Mexico and selected Caribbean markets.
Nursem firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nursem
- Legal name
- Better Health Limited
- Website
- https://nursem.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Nursem is a UK-based DTC therapeutic skincare brand selling hand cream, body care, hand wash, and targeted treatments primarily to nurses and consumers with dry, eczema-prone skin, anchored to a "Nursem Promise" donate-one-month-per-sale impact mechanic and sold via Shopify, subscriptions, corporate gifting, and stockist channels across approximately 45 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nursem industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Therapeutic Hand and Body Skincare
- NAICS
- Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Retailers (456120), Health and Personal Care Retailers (456)
- SIC
- Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations (2844)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Hand & Foot Care (CRABAAAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Hand Sanitizers & Antibacterial Personal Care (CRADANAI)
Keywords
Where Nursem is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Nursem business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- One-time DTC product sales: Direct e-commerce sales of hand creams, washes, body balms, skin fix, sets and value bundles via the company's own Shopify storefront.
- Subscribe and Save subscription program: Recurring delivery subscriptions on hand cream, hand wash, skin fix and body balm with 10% off every order, free shipping and early access to new products. Customers choose delivery frequency and can swap or cancel anytime.
- Bundle and value-pack sales: Multi-pack value bundles (e.g., six packs of hand cream, skin fix, hand wash) sold at up to 20% off, plus curated gift sets, starter kits, and custom build-your-own bundles.
- Corporate gifting: B2B corporate gifting offering (Corporate Gifting page) providing bulk skincare gifts for organizations, sold direct from the website.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Standard retail pricing on the full range |
| Subscription | Monthly | Subscribe and Save: 10% off every order |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Caring sets and curated bundles |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Value bundles — stock up and save up to 20% |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Sale — up to 25% off selected products |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Discount programs for target audiences |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Nursem product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nursem formulates, manufactures and sells a focused line of therapeutic hand and body care skincare products — led by the Caring Hand Cream (fragranced and unfragranced), Caring Hand Wash, Caring Skin Fix, and Ultra Caring Body Balm — under its own direct-to-consumer Shopify storefront localised across ~45 countries. It monetises via one-time purchases, value bundles, a Subscribe & Save 10% recurring-delivery program, and a corporate gifting service, while pairing every sale with the Nursem Promise donation of a month's hand cream to a nurse or midwife.
Product overview
Nursem (operated by Better Health Limited) sells a focused single-brand portfolio of therapeutic skincare products — primarily hand care, with a smaller body-care extension — rather than a multi-brand platform. The portfolio is structured as a small set of core SKUs (Caring Hand Cream in 75ml, 300ml and 30ml Mini sizes; an unfragranced variant of the Hand Cream; Caring Hand Wash 300ml; Caring Skin Fix 25ml/50ml; and Ultra Caring Body Balm 45ml/250ml) which are then recombined into curated sets (Handcare Starter Kit, Clean & Protect Set and its unfragranced twin, Day & Night Treatment and its unfragranced twin, Hand Care Minis, Hand Care Heroes Set, Hand Cream Cracker Gift Set, The Cleansing Cracker, The Nourishing Cracker) and multi-pack value bundles (Hand Cream Value Six Pack, Unfragranced Hand Cream Value Six Pack, Skin Fix Value Six Pack, Hand Cream Tube Value Six Pack, Hand Wash Value Six Pack, Unfragranced Hand Cream Tube Value Six Pack, Hand Cream 75ml Duo Pack, Hand Wash Duo). These products are sold directly through a Shopify-hosted storefront that also offers a Build Your Own Bundle tool, a Subscribe & Save 10% subscription programme, a corporate gifting service, and the Nursem Promise charitable giving programme.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Caring Hand Cream
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 1,000,000 customers use Nursem products
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Nursem
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Nursem technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Nursem partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core — founding partnership, core platform, core marketing platform, major paid acquisition channel, supplementary paid acquisition channel, major paid acquisition and analytics channel, supplementary analytics tool, minor agency partner and core channel expansion lever.
- NHS (UK National Health Service) nurses and midwivescore — founding partnershipNursem was co-developed with nurses and is sold with a give-back pledge (the Nursem Promise) that donates a month of free hand cream to an NHS nurse or midwife for every product sold. The homepage states 751,203 nurses have been supported through the Promise. The site also runs a dedicated 'Become a Healthcare Partner' program and offers an NHS nurse/midwife key-worker audience.
- Shopifycore platformShopify underpins Nursem's e-commerce, subscriptions, payments, multi-currency checkout and analytics. Cookie disclosures show cart, checkout, customer-auth, Shop Pay, Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify Analytics, and a bundles/bundle-builder app.
- Klaviyocore marketing platformKlaviyo powers Nursem's email/CRM marketing and click-tracking. The Sale page URL references a Klaviyo email campaign, and Klaviyo's `_kla_id` cookie tracks click-throughs from Klaviyo emails to the site.
- Meta (Facebook / Instagram)major paid acquisition channelMeta is a paid social and retargeting partner via Facebook Pixel (_fbp) and lastExternalReferrer tracking. Nursem also runs organic NursemSkincare Facebook and Instagram pages driving brand and community.
- TikTokmajor paid acquisition channelTikTok is both an organic channel (NursemSkincare handle) and a paid advertising partner via TikTok Pixel (_ttp, tt_sessionId) for performance campaigns.
- Microsoft Advertising (Bing)supplementary paid acquisition channelBing/Microsoft Advertising runs paid search and retargeting for Nursem, tracked via Bing's bat.bing.com pixel and _uetvid/_uetsid cookies.
- Google (Google Ads / Google Tag Manager)major paid acquisition and analytics channelGoogle Analytics (_ga) and Google Tag Manager (_gcl_au) cookies indicate active use of Google Ads, conversion tracking and audience building for Nursem's marketing.
- Hotjarsupplementary analytics toolHotjar is used for session replay, heatmaps and viewport tracking on nursem.co.uk (hjTLDTest, _hjSession, _hjSessionUser cookies and hjActiveViewportIds local storage).
- Hallway (creative agency)minor agency partnerSite footer credit: 'Site by Hallway' (hallway.agency), indicating Hallway designed and built the Nursem.co.uk storefront.
- Stockist and healthcare partner channelscore channel expansion leverNursem runs a 'Become a Stockist' wholesale signup and a 'Become a Healthcare Partner' program (linked from the footer) to extend distribution of its products through third-party retailers and healthcare institutions.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Nursem competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- O'Keeffe's: O'Keeffe's is a direct competitor in therapeutic hand and skin repair creams, with its flagship Working Hands cream serving cracked, dry hands of tradespeople and healthcare workers — the same core use case as Nursem's Caring Hand Cream. It is widely distributed in mass retail and competes on similar efficacy claims at similar price points.
- E45: E45 is a UK-leading dermatological skincare brand focused on dry, sensitive, and eczema-prone skin. It directly competes with Nursem's unfragranced, sensitive-skin positioning and is widely stocked in UK pharmacies — overlapping with Nursem's clinical and eczema-prone target segments.
- Aveeno: Aveeno is a major skincare brand whose oat-based, sensitive-skin positioning targets dry, eczema-prone skin — the same core need Nursem addresses. It is sold globally via mass retail and competes directly with Nursem's hand and body repair SKUs in the UK and US markets.
- CeraVe: CeraVe is a dermatologist-developed skincare brand with a strong hand cream and moisturiser portfolio targeting dry, sensitive, and eczema-prone skin. Its mass-market positioning and pharmacist endorsement overlap with Nursem's therapeutic claims and accessible pricing.
- La Roche-Posay: La Roche-Posay is a premium dermatologist-endorsed skincare brand with hand repair and sensitive-skin ranges. Its clinical positioning, dermatologist network, and pharmacy distribution make it one of the most direct competitors to Nursem's therapeutic, NHS-nurse-anchored value proposition.
Broad incumbents
- Neutrogena (Hand Cream range): Neutrogena is a mass-market skincare incumbent with Norwegian Formula hand cream and a broad dermatology portfolio. It is not DTC-specialist but competes with Nursem in hand repair and sensitive-skin categories across global mass retail.
- L'Occitane en Provence: L'Occitane is a global premium skincare and hand-care brand with a strong hand cream franchise sold DTC, retail, and travel-retail. It overlaps with Nursem on premium hand cream positioning, natural ingredient storytelling, and corporate gifting.
Emerging players
- Glossier: Glossier is a digitally native, community-led skincare and beauty brand built on direct-to-consumer e-commerce, subscription, and brand storytelling — the same DTC + community-led growth playbook Nursem is executing in a more therapeutic niche.
- The Honest Company: The Honest Company is a mission-driven, natural-ingredient DTC brand spanning baby, personal care, and skincare. Its mission-led positioning, subscription model, and multi-channel distribution parallel Nursem's social-cause-led DTC motion.
Regional players
- Lush: Lush is a UK-founded ethical and natural beauty brand with strong retail, gifting, and community-led positioning. It overlaps with Nursem on UK heritage, ethical/natural ingredient messaging, gift-set seasonality, and community-led campaigns.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Nursem social profiles
Digital presenceNursem financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nursem leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Nursem funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nursem M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Nursem
What does Nursem do?
Nursem formulates, manufactures and sells a focused line of therapeutic hand and body care skincare products — led by the Caring Hand Cream (fragranced and unfragranced), Caring Hand Wash, Caring Skin Fix, and Ultra Caring Body Balm — under its own direct-to-consumer Shopify storefront localised across ~45 countries. It monetises via one-time purchases, value bundles, a Subscribe & Save 10% recurring-delivery program, and a corporate gifting service, while pairing every sale with the Nursem Promise donation of a month's hand cream to a nurse or midwife.
Is Nursem a public or private company?
Nursem is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Nursem founded?
Nursem was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Nursem based?
Nursem is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Nursem make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. One-time DTC product sales are the primary driver. The others are subscribe and Save subscription program, bundle and value-pack sales and corporate gifting.
Who are Nursem's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are O'Keeffe's, E45, Aveeno, CeraVe and La Roche-Posay. Broad incumbents are Neutrogena (Hand Cream range) and L'Occitane en Provence. Emerging players are Glossier and The Honest Company. Lush is listed as a regional player.
Does Nursem have an API?
No public API is recorded for Nursem.
What industry is Nursem in?
Nursem's product category is Therapeutic Hand and Body Skincare. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRABAAAE, Hand & Foot Care, with a secondary code of CRADANAI, Hand Sanitizers & Antibacterial Personal Care. Its NAICS code is 456120 and its SIC code is 2844.