THE WHAT? L’Oréal’s corporate venture capital fund, BOLD has announced a minority investment in Debut. The French beauty giant is the exclusive beauty investor in the US biotech firm.

THE DETAILS The investment builds on existing joint development programs between L’Oréal and Debut that leverage the latter’s extensive IP portfolio to bring high-value, more sustainable ingredients to market faster.

“We are absolutely delighted to have L’Oréal as an investor at a time when advanced sciences are needed to thoroughly re-imagine how beauty ingredients are made, to address the challenges of cost, quality, scalability and sustainability head-on,” said Joshua Britton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Debut. “Debut’s ambition is to turn the active ingredient manufacturing process on its head, and in doing so, help industry leaders like L’Oréal maintain its innovative edge and desirability, fulfilling its responsibility to both the planet and consumers.”

THE WHY? The investment will enable Debut to rapidly scale its manufacturing platform and meet growing demand for breakthrough ingredients to be used in skin care, cosmetics and packaging. Barbara Lavernos, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology, at L’Oréal, commented. “Debut addresses one of the beauty world’s fundamental challenges: driving innovation without the resource-intensity and environmental impact that comes with relying on traditional manufacturing alone. Cell-free biomanufacturing is not science fiction: it is here. We could not be more excited to be the first beauty company to invest into this technology with Debut. We are delighted of our partnership with Debut to create together stand-out active beauty innovations while protecting the planet’s resources.”