L’Oréal Inks Tri-Party Deal for Sustainable Beauty Ingredients

L’Oréal has signed a tri-party agreement with biotech company Abolis and Evonik that will enable the end-to-end discovery, development and manufacturing of innovative and sustainable ingredients for beauty products.

As part of the accord, L’Oréal and Evonik have taken respective minority investments in the French biotech start-up. Abolis, based in Genopole, has unique expertise in tailor-made industrial solutions based on microorganisms for a wide range of industries including food, healthcare and cosmetics.

The agreement will enable purpose-made, sustainable ingredients to be produced at the scale needed to satisfy global demand for responsible beauty, and accelerate “L’Oréal for the Future” commitments that prioritize bio-based ingredientsin its beauty formulations, said the beauty giant.

The investment will allow Abolis to expand its capabilities in the development of microbe-powered solutions that help industries transition to more sustainable business models.

Today’s announcement marks a new phase in the L’Oréal-Abolis collaboration, which began in 2020.

Evonik is L’Oréal’s industrial-scale manufacturer of choice for this endeavor, according to Ute Schick, head of business line Care Solutions at Evonik.

“We are excited to be part of bringing new, blockbuster sustainable ingredients to the global market alongside L’Oréal and Abolis,” said Schick in a statement.

R&D at L’Oréal

L’Oréal Groupe invests more than €1 billion in R&I each year. A large percentage goes towards its work in green sciences, with a major focus on biotechnologies. It’s this biotech that is key for L’Oréal to explore a more sustainable portfolio – enabling them to develop ‘green alternative’ ingredients and rethink production methods, as well as transform the way products and formulas are conceived and designed.

L’Oréal—which has 4,000 researchers in 30 disciples working in 20 research centers—believes innovation in biotech is a collective effort, and as such has sought incubation, partnerships, investments and acquisition to make progress in this area. For example, L’Oréal Green Sciences Incubator, founded in early 2023, works with startups such as the French Algentech on synthetic plant cell biology, Belgian Novobiom on fungal technologies, and American-French Interstellar on AI-controlled biofarms. In 2020, L’Oréal partnered with Dutch biotech Micreos to develop endolysin, a protein which targets unwanted bacteria in the skin flora which is responsible for skin problems including eczema.

L’Oréal has also invested in startups such as the low-carbon microalgae farm specialists Microphyt (2022), cell-free ingredient manufacturer Debut Bio (2023), and a joint venture with Unilever and Kao on Geo (2023) for sustainable ingredients.

Late last year, L’Oréal announced it has completed the acquisition of Lactobio, a lprobiotic and microbiome research company based in Copenhagen.

Deal Financials

L’Oréal’s venture capital fund, BOLD, participated in the €35 million funding round which also includes Evonik CVC, Deep Tech & Climate Fund (DTCF), Clay Partners, Icos Capital and Liberset.

“We are proud to invest in Abolis and expand our collaboration, working together as a tight ecosystem alongside our historical partner, Evonik,” said Barbara Lavernos, deputy chief executive officer in charge of research, innovation and technology, L’Oréal Groupe. “By mobilizing our respective companies’ research, innovation and manufacturing capabilities and expertise, we are building an end-to-end value chain that we believe has tremendous potential to be a game-changer in bio-based ingredients for beauty.”

“We are thrilled to receive this round of funding which will allow us to take the next step in pushing the boundaries of innovation in biotechnology,” said Cyrille Pauthenier, CEO of Abolis Biotechnologies. “Our collaboration with L’Oréal and Evonik will empower us to create groundbreaking solutions tailored to drive the sustainable transformation of the industries we serve including beauty, nutrition and healthcare.”