L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, today named its second cohort of 13 pioneering companies from eight countries selected to join the group’s flagship sustainable innovation programme, L’AcceleratOR, including two companies from India. Backed by a €100 million fund, the global initiative identifies, pilots, and scales high-impact technologies addressing urgent challenges across climate, nature, and circularity. Representing India in the new cohort are: Without: A climate-tech pioneer advancing circular technology to recycle hard-to-recycle flexible packaging into durable materials. Without was previously recognized as a winner in the L’Oréal SAPMENA Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program. Nexus [Felis Leo Widgets]: An innovator developing circular technology to produce energy-storage batteries utilizing agricultural waste.
“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.
”Jacques Lebel, Managing Director, L’Oréal India, said: “India’s startup ecosystem is now the third largest in the world, and what continues to impress me is how fearlessly Indian entrepreneurs tackle complex, structural challenges, from agricultural residue to flexible packaging. Sustainability must be practical, scalable, and grounded in real-world impact. Combining that local entrepreneurial ingenuity with L’Oréal’s scientific rigour and global footprint is our winning formula. We are proud to see Indian minds taking centre stage to shape more circular solutions, not just for this market, but for the world.” Building on the success of its first cohort, the second edition of the L’AcceleratOR programme features an expanded geographical footprint and a broader range of sustainability challenges, including its first-ever water-technology selection.
