When it comes to digital savvy, investment and progress, L’Oréal is an acknowledged leader in the beauty industry.
The world’s largest pure-play beauty group has made its first venture capital investment in the Metaverse and Web3 space through its capital fund BOLD – Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development.
The investment is part of a US$4 million funding round for Digital Village, a virtual world building platform and NFT marketplace. Other investors include The Venture Reality Fund, a venture capital company which specialises in AR and VR, and the British Fashion Council.
Digital Village creates custom virtual 3D worlds for companies. The payback for brands is the opportunity to build digital identities and increase in-person brand recognition to help generate sales.
Launched in 2021 by Evelyn Mora, founder of the digital Helsinki Fashion Week, the company has previously collaborated on projects with the United Nations and Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).
As L’Oréal continues to explore and define what beauty means in Web3, we seek to work with the most promising startups who adhere to the highest possible visual and technical standards, said Camille Kroely, L’Oréal’s chief metaverse and Web3 officer.
“We are excited to be partnering with Digital Village, whose solutions will be powerful enablers for our brands and whose ideals of sustainability, accessibility, and interoperability in the Metaverse or Web3 are ones we share.”
L’Oréal has started the year with tech developments top of mind. Earlier this month, the multinational also invested in Prinker, the Korean startup it partnered with for the L’Oréal Brow Magic applicator, which debuted at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
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