L'Oréal Becomes Third Global Company to Invest in Geno-led Venture for Sustainably Sourced Ingredients
On March 20, 2023 sustainable materials leader Geno welcomes world-renowned beauty player L'Oréal as the third global Company and final founding investor to its venture to develop, produce and commercialize biotechnology-based alternatives to critical ingredients in the formulations of everyday cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products. As the world leader in beauty, L'Oréal's involvement provides access to the $571.10B beauty and personal care market, bringing the collective member revenue to $100B+ with products that reach billions of people. With additional founding members Unilever and Kao Corporation, the Geno-led venture is committed to meet growing demand for sustainable ingredients using biotechnology to improve the environmental profile of popular products and meet consumer demand for more traceable supply chains. Geno will deploy its proven biotechnology platform, using proprietary engineered microorganisms to ferment plant sugars that produce ingredients to make sustainable surfactants. These new ingredients will be used in a range of L'Oréal's products, marking an essential step towards L'Oréal's goals of 100% eco-designed formulas that respect the diversity of aquatic ecosystems and 95% of ingredients from renewable plant-based sources or abundant minerals by 2030. As part of its sustainability program, L'Oréal for the Future, the beauty leader has placed an increased focus on partnering with biotechnology innovators with a proven track record, like Geno, to explore, develop and manufacture more sustainable ingredients for the everyday products the world relies on.