L’Oréal launches €150M new fund for circular innovation

25 / 04 / 2022

By Marwa Nassar - -

L’Oréal announced the launch of a 150-million-euro new fund for circular innovation to scale breakthrough circular innovative solutions from around the world.

L’Oréal’s drive is motivated by increasing pressure on natural resources and the urgent need to scale-up circular economy solutions.

As an anchor investor, L’Oréal is contributing € 50-million as part of its L’Oréal for the Future sustainability program to this new €150 million fund.

Operated by Demeter and Cycle Capital, pioneers and leading cleantech-focused capital managers firms, the Fund will also benefit from a broad range of investors including, strategic investor Axens, family offices including Haltra and Claridge, as well as private investors and the managers.

The Circular Innovation Fund will support start-ups and companies across North America, Europe and Asia, which are developing circular use of resources across various sectors, including new materials from the bioeconomy, circular solutions for packaging, recycling & waste, logistics, eco-efficient processes.

As an impact investing fund the Circular Innovation Fund utilizes a robust, reliable, and innovative impact measurement methodology which integrates due diligence and continued monitoring on critical non-financial KPIs including greenhouse gas emissions reductions, resource use and diversity over the investment horizons of portfolio companies.

Projects supported by the Circular Innovation Fund target as examples companies like the circular fashion start up For Days, a service starting a circular revolution by recycling consumers’ old clothes with the Take Back Bag and offering a robust catalogue of 100% circular, recyclable and eco-designed clothing.

A second project, Aphea.Bio whose mission is “Applied Nature for better Agriculture” develops new and superior agricultural biologicals to reduce or substitute chemicals application.

“L’Oréal is the initiator of the Circular Economy Fund and its first investor with 50 million euros. I am convinced that finance can play a decisive role in mitigating the impacts of climate change and can be a vehicle for progress. We believe impact investment is one of the ways we can contribute to spur innovation in the circular economy space as part of the L’Oréal For the Future program. Impact investing is a perfect illustration of sustainable finance, that is to say, the ability to combine financial value creation with environmental and social value creation”, said Christophe Babule, Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer of L’Oréal.

“As organizations and individuals are feeling the pressure of climate change, sustainable investing strategies will continue to soar. This strategic collaboration between impact investors and established institutions comes at a pivotal point as we need to re-think how we consume goods globally. The Circular Innovation Fund has the potential to drastically re-design how we extract, manufacture, consume and dispose of goods and materials. Together, we can deliver value to the market with returns and, most importantly, deliver purpose and new innovation-driven technologies developed by talented entrepreneurs that have the potential to mitigate the environmental crisis humanity faces”, explains Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder & Managing Partner of Cycle Capital and Stéphane Villecroze, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Demeter.

“The latest IPCC report confirmed that “it is now or never” that we can act to stave off the worst impacts of global warming. As a leader, we want to act in two complementary and strategic ways: on one hand, reduce the impact of our business – by sourcing our ingredients in a sustainable way, using more materials from recycled origin, etc. On the other hand, contribute to addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges, such as waste management, plastic pollution and also biodiversity loss. That is why, in addition to be the anchor investor leading the new Circular Innovation Fund, this year, we continue to invest to regenerate biodiversity through a new ambitious and innovative French tech project”, commented Alexandra Palt, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer and CEO of the Fondation L’Oréal.