Yesterday, L’Oréal has participated in a €35 million funding round for the French biotech company Abolis Biotechnologies, as part of a broader effort to create sustainable, bio-based ingredients for beauty products. This minority investment was made through L’Oréal’s venture capital fund, BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development). The deal forms a strategic three-way partnership involving Abolis, L’Oréal, and Evonik CVC, a global specialty manufacturer and long-standing partner of L’Oréal. Other investors in this round include Deep Tech & Climate Fund, Clay Partners, Icos Capital, and Liberset.
This collaboration aims to leverage the research, innovation, and production expertise of all three companies to develop sustainable ingredients that align with L’Oréal’s 2030 sustainability goals, known as “L’Oréal for the Future.” By focusing on bio-based ingredients, L’Oréal seeks to reduce its environmental impact while creating innovative solutions for the beauty industry.
Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO of L’Oréal, emphasized the potential of this partnership to create a transformative supply chain for sustainable ingredients, while Frédéric Legrand, head of international innovative ingredients at L’Oréal, described the collaboration as a way to harness science and biotechnology to push the boundaries of sustainable beauty.
Abolis, located in Genopole, France, has been working with L’Oréal since 2019 and will use the new funding to expand its operations, develop proprietary processes, and grow its microbiome studio business unit. The collaboration will focus on developing complex molecules that can be produced sustainably and at scale. Some of these molecules will be exclusive to L’Oréal, while others will have broader applications, including in food supplements and animal feed.
