The international beauty giant has announced it has becoming a strategic partner to a major tech centre in the global startup scene, Station F. With this agreement, L’Oréal becomes Station F’s partner for development of early stage digital beauty startups worldwide. As part of the partnership, L’Oréal will run its own beauty accelerator inside Station F.
What is Station F?
Station F is based in Paris, backed by its creator Xavier Niel (Free Telecom, Kima Ventures, 42 coding school), a leading entrepreneur in the France tech scene. It was opened in June this year, with the 34,000m2 campus set to be home to over 1,000 startups, with a planned 600-person housing extension opening in 2018.
How is L’Oréal going to be involved?
Through its beauty accelerator based on the campus, L’Oréal is set to finance 62 workstations there. The company says it intends to support selected startups providing expertise in beauty and marketing, as well as networking and mentorship with group’s key stakeholders and a dedicated digital team. Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L’Oréal, notes that its nature as a French-headquartered company makes partnership with Station F particularly appropriate.
L’Oréal in digital
L’Oreal has made considerable strides in the recent period, taking on various strategic partnerships and making multiple significant investments in the specific field of startup development in the beauty tech scene. Our partnership with STATION F is strategic to help us connect, collaborate and support the rising generation of digital beauty entrepreneurs. This partnership adds to L’Oréal’s large-scale digital open innovation strategy, which includes investments in Partech Ventures, an international venture capitalist firm, and Founders Factory, a London based digital accelerator and incubator.
