L’Oreal’s latest endeavor shows it’s more than just a company concerned with your pretty face, and that its interests aren’t just skin deep. After partnering last year with London-based digital accelerator and incubator Founders Factory, L’Oreal will be supporting five “high-potential early stage startups.” Together with Founders Factory, the beauty brand will be helping to co-create two new businesses every year as part of their new yearly incubator program.
And all that began on Monday with the selection of five startups that have been selected for a six-month accelerator experience. First up is InsitU, described as personalized, natural skincare that was developed by scientific experts and will be made available online.
Then there’s Preemadonna, a nailbot device and app that allows users to design and print art directly onto their nails using their smartphones. Then there’s Tailify, which seeks to connect big brands to social media influencers to create campaigns, while also enabling those influencers to track, distribute, and monetize their content. Veleza, another beauty-related app, brings together a community of beauty fanatics to help users discover products that best match their needs by providing inspiration, advice, and product reviews. And finally, there’s Cosmose, which uses location technology to help retailers target offline customers via online channels.
L’Oréal and Founders Factory will aid in the growth and development of these five startups by providing hands-on operational support and mentoring, as well as beauty expertise, access to marketing teams, and research and development.
“We believe that open innovation will be key to identify new disruptive ideas and co-develop new services to meet the aspirations of our consumers,” said Lubomira Rochet, chief digital officer of L’Oréal. “We are excited to champion the next generation of beauty entrepreneurs through our partnership with Founders Factory, and accelerate their development by bringing them our expertise of the beauty industry.”
Henry Lane Fox, co-founder and CEO of Founders Factory, echoed these sentiments, noting, “We understand how incredibly hard it is to build a successful business and know that every founder feels the strain in terms of capital, time, and resource. By coupling the expertise of our operating team with the knowledge and scale of L’Oréal, we provide an unrivaled platform for startups looking to make global impact.”
