After making a minority investment through its corporate venture capital fund, L’Oréal has signed an agreement to acquire the outstanding shares of Switzerland-based Gjosa.
WHO: Based in Bienne, Switzerland, and founded in 2016, Gjosa is an environmental innovation company pioneering water-fractioning technology to develop water-saving solutions. The work is done with the belief that technology is a driving force that helps us to build a more sustainable tomorrow.
For over 110 years, L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty player, has devoted itself to one thing only: fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world. The company has a broad portfolio of 37 international brands and 87,400 committed employees, a balanced geographical footprint, and sales across all distribution networks. In 2022, L’Oréal Groupe generated sales amounting to 38.26 billion euros. With 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world and a dedicated Research and Innovation team of over 4,000 scientists and 5,500 tech and digital professionals, L’Oréal is focused on inventing the future of beauty and becoming a beauty tech powerhouse.
WHY: L’Oréal and Gjosa have been working together since 2015 to optimize shampoo rinse technologies with the objective to save water. This acquisition further reinforces the Groupe’s L’Oréal for the Future commitments, including a comprehensive and science-based approach to water management. The aim of this acquisition is to innovate and scale multiple applications of Gjosa’s technology for beauty, while protecting the precious and coveted resource of water.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “Acquiring Gjosa further strengthens our ability to build sustainability directly into our products and services, allowing us to seamlessly integrate water-conserving technology into new formulations and Beauty Tech innovations,” said Nicolas Hieronimus, Chief Executive Officer, L’Oréal Groupe. “Together, we can rapidly scale up sustainable beauty solutions with enhanced performance that are less resource intensive and introduce them to the wider beauty ecosystem.”
“By 2030, nearly 60% of the world’s population is expected to be water-stressed. Combining science and technology will play a vital role in our efforts to protect this valuable resource. Both L’Oréal and Gjosa are passionately committed to the environment, providing the best beauty experiences to people around the world whilst conserving the precious resources of water,” said Barbara Lavernos, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology, L’Oréal Groupe. "With Gjosa officially joining L’Oréal, we can accelerate Research and Innovation and go-to-market with more innovative and sustainable Beauty Tech solutions for the professional and consumer markets. We are excited to welcome Gjosa into our family.”
"L’Oréal has been our most important partner and it makes utmost sense to become part of the L’Oréal Groupe of companies, as we seek to build on the early success of Water Saver and parlay this into new use cases, form factors and markets," said Amin Abdulla, co-founder and board member of Gjosa. “Our partnership has been extremely open and collaborative from the start, so the whole of Gjosa is excited for this new chapter as part of the L’Oréal Groupe family and culture.”
“Combining L’Oréal’s beauty market leadership together with Gjosa’s core expertise in water conserving technologies will contribute to transforming the beauty industry with new, sustainable Beauty Tech innovations at scale,” said Laurent Manca, CEO of Gjosa.
DETAILS:
