French cosmetics giant L'Oréal and Indian retail company Nykaa have entered a partnership to jointly back emerging beauty and personal care brands in India.
Under the alliance, L'Oréal's corporate venture capital arm, Business Opportunities for L'Oréal Development (BOLD), will work alongside Nykaa to acquire minority stakes in Indian beauty and wellness companies that have “strong consumer traction and distinctive propositions”.
The two companies clarified that the funding will be strictly financial and minority in scope, leaving founders with complete ownership and control over their operations, teams, culture and creative direction.
L'Oréal India managing director Jacques Lebel said: “Through BOLD and this partnership with Nykaa, we want to stand behind that talent—backing founders with capital, mentorship, and L'Oréal's beauty expertise, while leaving them free to build their brands their way.”
Alongside funding, the backed brands will receive mentorship and guidance from BOLD and Nykaa, as well as access to L'Oréal's international expertise in beauty and Nykaa's omnichannel retail infrastructure and knowledge of consumer behaviour.
The companies said their goal is to “help ambitious Indian beauty founders scale faster and build enduring brands for India and the world”.
BOLD was set up in 2018 and backs companies across the beauty value chain, focusing on two areas: beauty and wellness brands, and science and technology for beauty.
Nykaa was established in 2012 by Falguni Nayar and has since evolved from an online beauty retailer into a broader group covering beauty, fashion and B2B operations, with brands such as Nykaa Fashion, Nykaa Man and Nykaa Superstore under its umbrella.
Nykaa Beauty executive director and CEO Anchit Nayar said: “Combining our strong consumer ecosystem, deep retail network and wide distribution, along with L’Oréal’s global beauty expertise will be an incredibly valuable asset to the next generation of founders as they look to build consumer brands that India can be proud of.”
Earlier this week, the Competition Commission of India approved L'Oréal India's acquisition of Onesto Labs, the entity that operates the Innovist personal care platform.
