Why We Said No to US$13.5 Million (About CA$19 Million): WeDoSkin Is Staying Canadian

A letter from Julia · October 2026

We Said No to US$13.5 Million.
WeDoSkin Is Staying Canadian.

An American company wanted to buy us. The number was US$13.5 million, about CA$19 million. We turned it down, because this is a Canadian company, built by Canadians, for Canadians, without a dollar of outside money, and we are not done building it.

Read the letterWe are hiring
US$13.5MThe offer we said no to
CA$19MAt today's exchange rate
$100MThe Canadian company we are building
3 citiesCalgary · Toronto · Vancouver
The short version

They offered a lot of money. We are staying Canadian.

WeDoSkin is Canadian-owned and operated, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, with offices in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. In October 2026 we declined a US$13.5 million (about CA$19 million) acquisition offer from a US-based company to remain independent, hire more Canadians, and build WeDoSkin into a $100 million Canadian skincare company. WeDoSkin was built without outside money and stays that way.

What happened

A few weeks ago an American company called. They want to set up shop in Canada, they had been watching us grow, and they made a real offer: US$13.5 million for the whole business, about CA$19 million. We signed a non-disclosure agreement, so we will not say who they are and we will not drop hints. But the offer was real, the people were serious, and we sat with it for a while. You do not get a number like that put in front of you and shrug.

Then we said no.

Why

Honestly? Because of the last two years. Every Canadian has lived through them. Tariffs one week, threats the next, a neighbour we trusted using our country as a bargaining chip. We all watched what happened: people started flipping over products to check where they were made, cancelled trips south, picked the Canadian brand on the shelf even when it cost a dollar more. Elbows up was not a slogan. It was how people actually shopped.

So when a US company offered to buy the company that 100,000 Canadians trust with their skin, it did not feel like a payday. It felt like being asked to hand over one more Canadian thing. We have spent years telling our customers to buy from an authorized Canadian retailer instead of a US site that looks Canadian until the duties arrive. We could not sell the company and still mean it.

And we believe the next five years here are bigger than the last five. We think we are among the fastest-growing skincare retailers in Canada. The offer valued what we are today. We are far more interested in what we are becoming, and we want that to happen in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, with Canadian people, paid in Canadian dollars, paying Canadian taxes, supporting Canadian families.

What we are proud of

We are proud that when you message us, a person in Canada answers. We are proud that your order leaves a Canadian warehouse and arrives without a customs bill. We are proud that every one of the 45+ brands on this site is sold here under its Canadian authorization, fresh, genuine and warrantied, when it would be cheaper and easier to source grey-market stock sideways. We are proud of the clinic in Calgary and the clinical team who would rather talk you out of a product than sell you one you do not need. And we are proud that all of it was built without outside money. No investors, no fund, no parent company, no cheque from anyone. Every warehouse shelf, every hire, every guide on this site was paid for by customers who came back, which is the slowest way to build a company and the only way to build one you actually own. None of that was built to be sold. It was built to last.

We did not build this to sell it. We built it to still be here in twenty years, with more Canadians working in it than there are today.

Julia, WeDoSkin, Calgary
Two young boys carrying WeDoSkin shipping boxes, with a delivery van parked behind them
Our first two Canadian employees, helping load the day's orders. They did not get a vote on the offer, but they were the deciding one. We could not sell the company out from under them, or from under the Canadians we are hiring next.
Three offices, one country

Where WeDoSkin lives

Three cities, three time zones, one standard. The people, the decisions and the stock are all here.

Headquarters · Alberta

Calgary

Where it all started and where the company is run from. Home to our clinic and the clinical team that reviews every guide on this site and maps routines for customers across the country, free, with every order.

Office · Ontario

Toronto

Our Eastern base, close to the biggest skincare market in the country and to the Canadian distributors and brand teams we work with every week. Customer care, partnerships and our growing French-language work for Quebec live here.

Office · British Columbia

Vancouver

Our Western base. Vancouver has trusted these medical-grade brands for years, and this office keeps the West Coast close: fast delivery across Metro Vancouver and a team in the same time zone as you.

Bigger than skincare

Why one company saying no actually matters

On its own, one skincare retailer turning down an American cheque is a small story. But small stories are how a country keeps its economy its own. Every Canadian business that stays Canadian keeps its profits here, its hiring here, its taxes here and its decisions here. The money you spend with us does not leave the country to pay a shareholder in another one. It pays a customer care lead in Toronto, a warehouse team in Alberta, a clinical advisor in Vancouver. It pays for the kids' hockey registration and the mortgage and the groceries of people who live down the street from you.

That is what Buy Canadian actually is, once the slogans wear off. It is not about hating anyone. It is about remembering that when you choose a Canadian company, you are choosing which families get to keep their jobs when the next round of tariffs lands. We have seen Canadian businesses sold off, moved, consolidated and quietly hollowed out from head offices in other countries. The logo stays. The jobs go. We were not going to let that be our story.

We are also a little stubborn about it. We think Canadians deserve a world-class skincare retailer that is actually Canadian, not a branch office. One that stocks the same brands your dermatologist uses, sells them in our dollars, ships them from our soil and answers the phone in our time zones. Nobody was going to build that for us. So we are building it ourselves, and we are inviting you to be part of it, as a customer, a brand partner, or one of the people we are about to hire.

What we are building instead

The plan to $100 million, in plain words

No investor deck. Six things we are doing, in the order we are doing them, written down so you can hold us to them.

1
Hire more Canadians, in all three cities

Customer care, clinical guidance, warehouse, ecommerce and content, in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. Good jobs, paid in Canadian dollars, for people who live here. Open roles are on our careers page.

2
Add brands the right way only

Every new line comes through its Canadian distributor, fully authorized, fresh, with the manufacturer's warranty intact. We would rather carry fewer brands properly than more brands sideways.

3
Serve Quebec properly, in French

Product pages, guides and clinical advice in French, for the second-largest skincare market in the country. Built from Toronto, backed by the Calgary clinical team.

4
Get it to your door faster, coast to coast

Shorter transit times from our Canadian warehouse to every province and territory, free shipping over $65, free samples in every order, and careful handling for the actives that need it.

5
Keep the advice free

More honest guides and comparisons from a clinical team that uses the products, reviewed by a physician, free whether you buy or not. The Skin Edit is where that library lives.

6
Give the margin back to Canadians, not a buyer

Cashback of 5 to 20% that never expires through the Ritual Card. The money a sale would have sent south stays with the people who shop with us.

To our customers

You are the reason this was even a question

Nobody offers US$13.5 million for a website. They offered it for you: 100,000 Canadians who chose an authorized Canadian retailer over a marketplace, who read the guides, who trusted a clinical team they had never met, who told a friend. That trust is the whole company. It is also why we could not sell it. You did not sign up to be handed over.

So here is our side of the deal. Your prices stay in Canadian dollars. Your order keeps leaving a Canadian warehouse with no surprise fees at the door. The person who answers you stays Canadian. Your cashback keeps growing and never expires. Your guarantee does not move. And when the next tariff headline hits, you will know exactly where the company you shop with stands, because we just told you.

To the brands we carry

To the brand teams and Canadian distributors who trusted us with their lines: nothing changes, except that we are growing. You keep dealing with the same people under the same authorizations. We keep protecting your products the way we always have: no grey-market sourcing, no diverted stock, no discounting that undermines the clinics that recommend you, and content that explains your science honestly. Staying Canadian-owned is, among other things, a promise to you.

For customers

What changes, and what does not

The honest comparison between the company you shop with today and the one a sale would have created.

What matters WeDoSkin, staying Canadian WeDoSkin under US ownership
Who owns it Canadians, headquartered in Calgary A head office in another country
Where the jobs are Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, and growing Wherever the parent company decides
Where the profit goes Back into Canadian hiring, cashback and growth To shareholders outside Canada
Prices and currency Canadian dollars, set here, no duties at the door Set to suit a foreign margin
Stock Held and shipped in Canada Could be consolidated south
Brand authorization Authorized Canadian distribution for all 45+ brands Would need renegotiating
Who answers you Our own team, in Canada, free with every order Not guaranteed
Cashback and guarantee Unchanged: 5 to 20% that never expires, 100-day unopened returns, 45-day protection Unknown
Your routine Nothing changes Nothing we could promise

The right-hand column describes what we could not have guaranteed after a sale, not what the buyer said it would do.

Plain answers

Questions people are asking

Is WeDoSkin Canadian-owned?
Yes. WeDoSkin is Canadian-owned and operated, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, with offices in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. In October 2026 we declined a US$13.5 million (about CA$19 million) acquisition offer from a US-based company to remain independent and Canadian-owned.
Was WeDoSkin sold to an American company?
No. We received a US$13.5 million (about CA$19 million) buyout offer from a US-based company in October 2026 and declined it. WeDoSkin remains independent, Canadian-owned and operated.
Who made the offer to buy WeDoSkin?
We signed a non-disclosure agreement and will not identify the company or share any details about it, other than that it is US-based and was looking to establish a presence in Canada.
Why did WeDoSkin turn down the offer?
Because we are proud Canadians, we believe the business is worth far more over the next five years than it is today, and after two years of tariffs and trade threats we were not willing to hand a growing Canadian company, its jobs and its customers to a US owner. We built WeDoSkin without outside money and we would rather keep building it, into a $100 million Canadian company, right here.
Where is WeDoSkin located?
WeDoSkin is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, where our clinic and clinical team are based, with offices in Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia. Orders ship from Canada to every province and territory.
What is WeDoSkin's plan after declining the offer?
To keep growing as an independent Canadian company: hire more Canadians across Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, keep every order shipping from Canada in Canadian dollars, build out the French-language experience for Quebec, add brands through authorized Canadian distribution, and grow WeDoSkin into a $100 million Canadian skincare company.
Does anything change for WeDoSkin customers?
No. Same team, same authorized brands, same Canadian warehouse, same guarantee, same cashback and the same free clinical guidance. The only change is that we are hiring.
Does WeDoSkin ship from Canada?
Yes. Every order ships from Canada, is priced in Canadian dollars with no duties or surprise fees at the door, and comes from authorized Canadian distribution for every brand we carry, with free shipping on orders over $65.
Is WeDoSkin an authorized retailer?
Yes. WeDoSkin is a Preferred Authorized Canadian Retailer for the 45+ professional and medical-grade brands it carries, including SkinCeuticals, ZO Skin Health, AlumierMD, Vivier, Alastin, Colorescience and Omnilux. Products come through authorized Canadian distribution, never grey-market.
Is WeDoSkin hiring?
Yes. We are growing the team across Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver in ecommerce, customer care, clinical guidance and operations. Open roles are listed on our careers page.

If you have shopped with us, thank you. You are the reason the offer happened and the reason we turned it down. If you have not yet, this is the kind of company you would be supporting. Proudly Canadian, and staying that way.

Julia
WeDoSkin · Calgary · Toronto · Vancouver · October 2026

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Canadian-dollar figure is approximate, converted at the exchange rate on October 28, 2026.