L'Oréal expands partnership with Debut to scale biotech for sustainable beauty

Beauty biotech company Debut is expanding its partnership with L'Oréal, which owns Maybelline, NYX Cosmetics and Garnier, to develop and scale more than a dozen bio-identical ingredients to accelerate a more sustainable beauty industry.

As part of the agreement, Debut will create new bio-based ingredients using proprietary advanced biomanufacturing processes which combine fermentation and cell-free technology to replace conventional methods and ingredients currently used in L'Oréal brands across skin, hair, colour cosmetics and fragrance.

Joshua Britton, founder and chief executive of Debut, said in a statement: "Creating bio-identical ingredients at scale helps preserve global biodiversity and secure responsible ingredient supply chains while continuing to prioritise quality and product performance.

"Debut is committed to creating bio-based formulations for all its beauty products and has unmatched capabilities in biotechnology, formulation and scaling to catalyse this transformative shift in beauty."

The global beauty and personal care market is currently valued at 646 billion US dollars and is projected to grow at an annual rate of 3.33 percent, according to Statista. In the face of climate change and the demand for natural resources, there is a growing need for sustainable ingredient sourcing.

Synthetic biology, which Boston Consulting Group described as "the manufacturing paradigm of the future," can deliver the innovation needed to create bio-identical, alternative ingredients for sustainable beauty.

Britton added: "Our mission is to pioneer the shift to biotechnology. We capture value across the entire supply chain, ensuring that Debut's bio-identical and novel ingredients and products satisfy the huge global market demand for next-generation sustainable beauty. The beauty industry will be transformed, to the lasting benefit of people and planet.”

Guive Balooch, global managing director of augmented beauty and open innovation at L'Oréal Groupe, said: "Through this exciting partnership and adoption of breakthrough technology, we are well-positioned to drive the creation of more sustainable and effective products that meet the demands of our consumers and fulfils our duty of care for the planet.

"This long-term agreement with Debut is another example of our commitment to the Open Innovation ecosystem and building the future of beauty by collaborating with best-in-class partners."