CLICHY, France – L’Oréal named its second cohort of 13 pioneering companies from eight countries for the group’s flagship sustainable innovation program, L’AcceleratOR.
Endowed with 100 million euros, the program aims to identify, pilot and scale sustainable solutions to the most urgent challenges in climate, nature and circularity.
Building on the success of its first cohort of start-ups and SMEs, L’AcceleratOR’s second edition is marked by its expanded geographical footprint. It has also extended the range of sustainability challenges addressed, including the first water technology selection.
The 13 Change Makers
Next-Generation Packaging & Materials
• Arda Biomaterials (UK): Creating a plant-based leather alternative for premium materials.
• Bormioli Luigi (Italy): Reinventing ultralight and resistant glass packaging.
• Auressens (France): Creating metal-free, recyclable reflective pigments for packaging.
• Newlight Technologies, Inc. (USA): Converting methane into packaging.
Innovative Ingredients & Formulas
• Bioweg (Germany): Harnessing the power of precision fermentation for new raw materials.
• Envision Energy (China): Developing green ammonia for hair colorants from renewable energy.
Advanced Industrial Processes
• Without (India): Recycling technology for hard-to-recycle flexible packaging
• HCpect (China): Treating plastic waste through a novel chemical recycling technology.
• MacroCycle (USA): Recycling Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) through a low-carbon solution.
• Nexus (India): Producing batteries using agricultural waste through a circular technology.
• Upheat Solutions Oy (Finland): Bringing energy efficiency with novel industrial heat pumps.
• Laminar (USA): Enhancing industrial water management through intelligent sensor technology to reduce overall usage.
Data Intelligence
• Waterplan (USA): Addressing water and biodiversity risks to drive local action through an AI-native platform.
The 13 partners will enter an intensive acceleration phase led by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) innovation team, focusing on pilot readiness. They will also have the opportunity to gain access to L'Oréal's global resources to launch 6- to 9-month pilot projects and potentially have their solutions scaled across the group’s international operations.
“We are working to unlock new frontiers in the beauty industry through pioneering solutions,” said Ezgi Barcenas, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at L’Oréal. “This second L’AcceleratOR cohort reflects our ambition to bring together entrepreneurial ingenuity, scientific progress and the global reach of L’Oréal to help scale breakthrough innovations.”
“We’re excited to welcome the second cohort in the L’AcceleratOR program after many months of careful selection to find commercially relevant solutions in target geographies internationally. The continued investment and support to sustainability innovation shown by L’Oréal demonstrates the power of foresighted brands to lead the market towards better solutions for all,” added James Cole, Chief Innovation Officer at CISL.
L’Oréal also unveiled its new docuseries, Entering L’AcceleratOR, which chronicles the journey of three of the inaugural cohort of change makers. The series takes viewers behind the scenes to see how these startups and internal teams have worked together to pilot breakthrough solutions for commercialization. The first episode full series can be seen on the L’Oréal YouTube Channel.
For more information to follow the progress of these innovators, and to be informed about the launch of the next call for application, visit: https://www.loreal.com/en/commitments-and-responsibilities/for-the-planet/accelerator/.
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