L'Oréal Groupe announces a three-way agreement with Abolis Biotechnologies, a biotech startup based at the Genopole in Evry (Essonne), and the German company Evonik, one of the world's specialists in specialty chemistry, to design innovative, sustainable ingredients to meet global demand for responsible beauty.
This agreement will accelerate L'Oréal's commitment to sustainable development as part of its L'Oréal for the Future program, which gives priority to biobased ingredients in its formulations.
L'Oréal Groupe and Evonik have each acquired a minority stake in Abolis to accompany the partnership. Bold, L'Oréal Groupe's private equity fund, participated in the €35 million round alongside Evonik CVC, Deep Tech & Climate Fund (DTCF), Clay Partners, Icos Capital and Liberset. This investment will enable Abolis Biotechnologies to expand its capabilities in the development of micro-organism-based solutions for a wide range of industries, including cosmetics, healthcare and food.
This investment also marks a new strategic step in the collaboration between L'Oréal and Abolis, which began in 2019 and continued into 2022 in the form of an "extended lab", a pooling of resources and expertise.
"We are proud to invest in Abolis and extend our collaboration, forming a high-performance ecosystem with our long-standing partner, Evonik, commented Barbara Lavernos, Executive Vice-President in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology at L'Oréal Groupe. By mobilizing the capabilities and expertise of each of our companies in research, innovation and production, we are building an integrated value chain that we are convinced has the potential to be a game-changer for biobased ingredients in beauty."
"We are delighted to receive this funding, which will enable us to take the next step in pushing back the boundaries of biotechnology innovation, said Cyrille Pauthenier, CEO of Abolis Biotechnologies. Our collaboration with L'Oréal Groupe and Evonik will give us the keys to creating disruptive solutions tailored to the sustainable transformation of the industries we support, notably beauty, nutrition and healthcare."
"We are honored to have been chosen by L'Oréal as the preferred industrial-scale manufacturer for this project, a choice that builds on a long-standing and extensive relationship between Evonik and L'Oréal, said Ute Schick, Head of Evonik's Care Solutions business sector. We are delighted to be able to introduce new sustainable flagship ingredients to the global market alongside L'Oréal and Abolis."
Photo taken from the L'Oréal website.
