The smart sunscreen with built-in health benefits

Australian entrepreneur Mathew Collett has big ambitions for his smart sunscreen.

Solar D protects the skin against harmful rays while allowing those that produce Vitamin D in. Source: Supplied

The CEO of Solar D hopes that all sunscreens in the future will feature the vitamin D boosting-technology that’s currently exclusive to his brand.

“When the first water-resistant sunscreen came out, there was only one but within three years virtually every sunscreen was water resistant,” said Collett.

“Our long-term goal is that every sunscreen on the shelf has our technology, which would be a dream.”

Vitamin D deficiency affects more than 1 billion people worldwide and has been linked with various cancers, Alzheimer's, heart disease and depression.

Solar D uses patented UVB Filtering Technology that lets in some of the sunlight that helps the body naturally produce vitamin D, but blocks harmful UVA rays that can lead to skin cancer.

The company already has a $30 million dollar US distribution deal and has just launched in India and China.

With online retail in China’s e-commerce market expected to surpass US$1 trillion by 2019, Collett says it’s a big deal.

A third of Australians are vitamin D deficient. Source: Supplied

“It’s a game-changer,” he said.

“China is a massive market and one of the biggest growing areas for sunscreen in the world.”

Former Australian test star, Brett Lee has come on board as a brand ambassador to help promote Solar D in India.

“He’s extremely popular in India, sort of their second son, he’s loved and admired over there,” said Collett.

One of the world's fastest and most feared bowlers of his generation, Lee enjoys a massive cult following in India.

One of only a few pacemen to break 160 km/h, Lee hopes to give back to the nation where many of the highlights of his 20-year career played out.

“India has been so helpful in giving me some amazing memories and I want to put back in and educate India about the importance of sunscreen and vitamin D,” said Lee, who has also starred in Bollywood and had a number one hit single in India.

Brett Lee (left) with Mathew Collett. Source: Supplied

Australian singer Guy Sebastian and presenter Jessica Rowe are also brand ambassadors and Collett believes ambassadors are important to Solar D’s growth.

Like many great ideas, Solar D came by chance, incidentally through Sebastian.

“My business partner Titus Day, was managing Guy at the time and met the inventor at a party, while on tour in the United States."

“It was very offhand and luckily the inventor is a chemist by background,” said Collett.  

“We realised there was some amazing technology.” 

While Solar D owns the exclusive rights to manufacture, promote, sell and license the product globally, it has just signed off a deal with the inventor to purchase the Intellectual Property (IP) for North America, South America and Europe.

“That’s mainly the patents and trademarks and actual technology,” he said.

“It means we won't license anymore, we'll actually own the IP and that's another big step for the business.”

Watch this story at the top of the page, or catch the full episode on SBS On Demand.