L’Oréal is looking beyond traditional beauty innovation with the second cohort of its L’AcceleratOR program, bringing 13 companies from eight countries into a program designed to test and scale new sustainability technologies.
Backed by €100 million, L’AcceleratOR focuses on some of the practical challenges facing the beauty industry, from packaging and ingredients to energy, water and waste. The latest cohort also expands the program’s scope with its first water-technology company.
The 13 companies span four key areas.
Next-Generation Packaging & Materials
- Arda Biomaterials (UK) – Developing a plant-based alternative to leather for use in premium materials.
- Bormioli Luigi (Italy) – Working on glass packaging that is both lighter and more resistant, potentially reducing the material needed for products.
- Auressens (France) – Creating recyclable, metal-free reflective pigments that can be used in packaging.
- Newlight Technologies (U.S.) – Converting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into materials that can be used for packaging.
Innovative Ingredients & Formulas
- Bioweg (Germany) – Using precision fermentation, a technology that uses microorganisms to produce specific materials, to create new raw materials.
- Envision Energy (China) – Developing green ammonia made with renewable energy for use in hair-coloring products.
Advanced Industrial Processes
- Without (India) – Developing technology to recycle flexible packaging that is currently difficult to recycle.
- HCpect (China) – Using chemical recycling technology to process plastic waste.
- MacroCycle (U.S.) – Recycling PET, a common plastic used in packaging, through a lower-carbon process.
- Nexus (India) – Turning agricultural waste into materials for batteries, creating a use for waste that would otherwise be discarded.
- Upheat Solutions (Finland) – Developing industrial heat pumps to improve energy efficiency.
- Laminar (U.S.) – Using smart sensors to help industrial sites monitor and reduce their water use.
Data Intelligence
- Waterplan (U.S.) – Using artificial intelligence to help companies understand water and biodiversity risks and take action at a local level.
The companies will now enter an intensive development phase led by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. L’Oréal says they may have access to its global operations to run six- to nine-month pilot projects, with successful solutions potentially scaled across the L’Oréal Group.
L’AcceleratOR was launched by L’Oréal in 2024 as part of the company’s broader effort to work with startups and emerging technology companies on environmental challenges.
The program was created to help move promising sustainability solutions beyond the development stage and into real-world use, connecting young companies with L’Oréal’s scientists, engineers, manufacturing operations and global network.
Its first cohort included 10 companies working on areas such as sustainable materials, packaging, recycling and manufacturing. The second cohort expands that effort to 13 companies and introduces new areas including water management and biodiversity.
L’Oréal also announced its new YouTube docuseries, Entering L’AcceleratOR, which chronicles the journey of three of its inaugural cohort of brand founders.