L’Oréal partners with Founders Factory to support beauty tech startups

L’Oréal has partnered with UK-based Founders Factory to invest in five beauty tech startups across the world, in addition to establishing two new firms every year.

This partnership is aimed at assisting the early stage startups in introducing products and services, as well as providing support on digital strategy.

L’Oréal will assist in the rolling out of products while support for digital strategy will come from Founders Factory.

The beauty company has made a financial investment in Founders Factory and three of its executives will hold seats.

L’Oréal chief digital officer and executive committee member Lubomira Rochet was quoted by Fashionista.com as saying: "This strategic investment will give L’Oréal direct access to a powerful global ecosystem of exciting startups and innovative technologies at their earliest stage allowing us to invest in and nurture innovative business models based on digital platforms to better serve consumers’ aspirations."

The company’s own technology development centre in San Francisco recently launched makeover app Makeup Genius and a stretchable skin sensor to check UV exposure, called My UV Patch.

L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon has lately been targeting the beauty and tech sector. Earlier, it has introduced the makeover app Makeup Genius and My UV Patch from its own technology incubator in San Francisco.

Big brands are aiming to tap start-ups for digital transformation.

Recently, Sephora launched Sephora Accelerateto support ten early-stage, female-led startups.