L’Oréal and Meta launch metaverse start-up accelerator

By Julia Wray | Published: 24-Oct-2022

Five start-ups stand to receive access to mentorship, experts and investors

L’Oréal has confirmed its position as a Web3 trailblazer for beauty by teaming up with Meta and French business school HEC Pairs to launch a start-up accelerator focused on the metaverse.

Headquartered at Meta’s campus in Station F, in Paris’ 13th arrondissement, the accelerator will aid five start-ups in verticals including avatar creation, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), token economy and portability in user experience.

Applications will remain open until 20 November, according to Vogue Business, and selections will be made in December.

Start-ups will be chosen by a jury of representatives from L’Oréal, Meta and HEC, as well as entrepreneurs and investors.

Successful applicants will be offered mentorship and access to experts and investors, and, interestingly, L’Oréal has shown interest in start-ups unrelated to the cosmetics space.

L’Oréal bets on the metaverse

The news that L’Oréal is joining forces with Meta to foster the next generation of companies paving the way in Web3 shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The French cosmetics giant has been vocal about its ambitious Web3 plans, telling Cosmetics Business this summer that it intends to use Web3 to deepen its connection and engagement with communities, by offering unique beauty experiences.

Innovations so far from L’Oréal include its Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Golden Block NFTs; a crypto-art collection of 3D angels to celebrate the anniversary of Mugler’s Angel fragrance; and a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) called GORJS via NYX Professional Makeup, set up to foster the development of the 3D artist community.

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