Beauty giant Laurel has created the Brave Women Founders initiative, designed to support women-led startups around the world.
Source: L’Oreal
The initiative is being developed by the group’s venture capital fund Bold Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development, with an initial allocation of €25m.
L’Oréal’s Brave Women founders focus on investment opportunities across the broader beauty ecosystem, including brands, beauty technology, biotech and green science. According to the company, this venture and entrepreneurship fund is in line with the group’s strategic commitment to promote gender equity.
Financial support for women’s entrepreneurship
Nicolas Hieronymus, CEO of L’Oréal, commented: “L’Oréal has been committed to empowering women for many years through L’Oréal Foundations such as L’Oréal UNESCO for Women in Science and Women for Climate.
“Brave Women Founders aims to promote the incredibly low level of funding for women’s entrepreneurship. We bring our sense of purpose to life by addressing the inequities that passionate women founders face on their entrepreneurial journeys: create the beauty that moves the world.
She continued, “Today, 30% of bold venture capital fund startups are led by women. With Brave Women Founders, we want to accelerate venture capital investment to support female entrepreneurship.
Gouzel Ishmatova, Brave Chief Strategy Officer, added, “A more venture capital industry means opportunities for underrepresented female entrepreneurs. In reality, women-led startups attract less funding, but they consistently outperform. Together with Brave Women Founders, we want to be a game changer by investing in the innovation and talent of the next generation of female entrepreneurs.
