Started by three NUS students, Juno Jane gained traction through TikTok virality
Not many students can run a business alongside their studies, but three Gen Z founders have found a way to make it work.
Sophia Poh, 24, Kayleigh Low, 22, and Wanzhen Li, 22, are the trio behind Juno Jane, a Singapore-based handbag brand they founded while studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The idea was born from classroom conversations, which eventually grew into a full-fledged business that has since achieved six-figure revenue and shipped to over 40 countries, all while the founders balanced university coursework.
The market is saturated, but they still found an opening
Sophia, Kayleigh, and Wanzhen met in a business class at NUS in early 2024. A casual conversation about the lack of durable, aesthetic, and functional handbags for young professional women sparked the idea that would eventually become their brand.
Despite the saturated market, they spotted an opening: many brands were going for speed and prioritising the launch of more products, instead of designing features with the customer in mind.
Conversely, the Juno Jane founders wanted to take a different approach: one that was design-led and focused on tailoring their bags to what consumers actually wanted.
However, without any prior experience, the process was challenging. They surveyed friends, interviewed peers to identify common pain points, and scoured the Internet for manufacturer contacts. Eventually, they connected with one, working closely with the manufacturer to refine sketches and bring their ideas to life.
The trio saved up their internship allowance to launch Juno Jane
As students, the founders pooled together five figures from their internship savings to launch Juno Jane in 2024. While the bags were designed in-house by the founders, they are produced at a factory in China, which they sourced through a combination of personal connections and online research.
Most of the trio’s capital went towards research and development, as well as producing samples and prototypes—a process Wanzhen noted “is much more expensive than the actual final cost of the bag because of all the behind-the-scenes testing.”
In fact, the trio shared that their first collection, the Kai Tote, went through six iterations over the course of a year before launch.
Their meticulous approach paid off, though.
The Kai Tote sold out within two weeks of its Dec 2024 launch. And shortly after, Juno Jane broke even in Feb 2025 following its first restock. The collection was subsequently expanded in Apr 2025 with black and wine colourways.
Gaining traction through TikTok
A big part of this early success came from organic community building. From the start, the founders documented their journey on TikTok, sharing behind-the-scenes content of factory visits, design decisions, and the realities of student entrepreneurship.
“When we started, we already launched to a community who knew who we were,” Kayleigh said. “That’s really what helped to sell out our first collection.”
To date, Juno Jane’s videos have garnered over 340,000 likes on TikTok alone, alongside a following of over 40,000 on both Instagram and TikTok.
Their most viral video has garnered over 33,000 likes, though not all their posts achieved traction, especially in the early days. Instead, the founders gradually built momentum by sharing candid stories as young entrepreneurs.
Juno Jane’s videos eventually began reaching international audiences, and today, overseas sales comprise 40% of its revenue, primarily from the United States, Australia, and the Philippines.
Running a business is nothing like studying it in class
While three founders studied business at NUS, they quickly discovered that running a company is different from theories taught in school.
Instead, running a business requires integrating cross-functional skills that university courses teach in isolation.
“In school, when you learn about pricing, it’s just pricing alone,” Kayleigh observed. “But in real business, you see how supply chain affects marketing—if our bags are on pre-order, our marketing effectiveness drops because people cannot buy immediately.”
That’s why the team now orders stock in advance and operates two warehouse units to store inventory, ensuring products are readily available for purchase, and customers don’t have to wait.
Priced in the mid-hundreds, Juno Jane’s bags are designed to appeal to a wide range of customers. “We didn’t want to design bags that could only be sold to people willing to pay S$300 or S$400,” Kayleigh added, noting that they aimed to strike a balance between accessibility, functionality, and style.
Competing against established players
Since launch, Juno Jane has generated over six figures in gross sales. Against established players, it competes by staying lean and design-focused.
The trio split responsibilities across complementary skill sets. Kayleigh handles the Juno Jane website and TikTok, Wanzhen manages Instagram and creative design, while Sophia oversees finance and operations. This structure allows them to cover all business functions without hiring, managing expenditure as a bootstrapped business.
Moreover, their low customer acquisition costs, driven by strong organic TikTok content, provide a key advantage over well-funded competitors.
“We’re very heavy on organic marketing,” Sophia noted. “Because of that, the cost per acquisition for us is still relatively low even though the spend is lower.”
However, like many growing direct-to-consumer brands, Juno Jane initially struggled with demand forecasting. In the beginning, they were sometimes out of stock for two months due to production periods. They have since implemented a system to track sales weekly and place orders in advance, factoring in manufacturers’ peak periods, like the Chinese New Year break.
“It’s still something we’re learning,” Kayleigh admitted, “because when you’re trying to grow a business, your turnover rate is not linear.”
While e-commerce remains their primary channel, the trio recognise the value of physical touchpoints that help to grow brand awareness and learn from other founders.
Beyond selling products at Gathery and NUS Business School’s Homecoming, they led an initiative called For Her once in the past year at Kada. It is a pop-up event focused on female-led businesses and growing a community with local brands.
“We decided to bring these brands together to create a touch point for everyone to get to know each other better,” Sophia explained. “Nowadays, when we have problems regarding the operational side of things or shipping, we just reach out to each other.”
A retail store is not on the cards just yet
Although the brand has achieved significant growth, the founders shared that opening a permanent retail store is not on the cards just yet, citing the high overhead costs involved. Additionally, two of the founders are still studying at NUS, while Sophia, who graduated last year, is now working full-time.
Instead, they hope to expand their physical presence through pop-ups and consignment arrangements. They are also developing accessories to better cater to their customers’ evolving preferences.
Along the way, the trio learned several lessons over the past two years. “Taking the risk isn’t as scary as you think it might be, especially if you have a team to do it with,” Sophia reflected.
“The inertia is real—like, I have to pull X amount of money and what if it doesn’t work out? But the truth is you don’t really need such a big pool to start with, and with two to three people, you’re kind of de-risking as well.”
Juno Jane’s journey shows that starting a business doesn’t require perfect timing or large capital—just a willingness to take calculated risks with the right team. By sharing responsibilities, staying lean, and testing ideas directly with customers, the founders were able to de-risk entrepreneurship while still moving quickly.
Featured Image Credit: Juno Jane
