L’Oréal to acquire majority stake in Innovist to expand digital-first beauty push in India

CLICHY: L’Oréal is set to deepen its India play, announcing an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Innovist, a fast-growing digital-first personal care house of brands, in a move aimed at strengthening its presence in one of the world’s most dynamic beauty markets.

The deal is designed to accelerate L’Oréal’s India strategy by combining its global expertise with Innovist’s science-led, digitally native portfolio built for Indian consumers. Innovist’s brands, including Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play, are known for clean formulations, transparent ingredients and strong digital distribution across direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, quick commerce and offline retail channels.

Founded in 2019 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana and Vimal Bhola, Innovist will continue to operate with its founding team, which will retain minority shareholding and remain involved in scaling the business alongside L’Oréal India. The brands will be integrated into L’Oréal’s Consumer Products Division.

Announcing the deal, L’Oréal chief executive officer Nicolas Hieronimus said, “Our investment in this innovative Indian start-up is a clear testament to our unwavering commitment to expanding L’Oréal’s footprint in India. By bringing together the very best of L’Oréal’s global expertise with Innovist’s high-performing, science-led products and deep-rooted understanding of the Indian consumer, I believe we are poised to shape the future of beauty in this dynamic market.”

Commenting on the strategic importance of the acquisition, L’Oréal president of consumer products division Fabrice Megarbane said, “India is one of the most exciting and fast-evolving beauty markets in the world, and this partnership places us right at the heart of that momentum. For the Consumer Products Division, this is a key milestone, one that reflects both our ambition and our commitment to this extraordinary market.”

Adding further, L’Oréal India country manager Jacques Lebel said, “Innovist has built something truly special here in India, and by joining forces we look forward to bringing L’Oréal even closer to the new generation of digitally-savvy Indian beauty consumers.”

From Innovist’s leadership, CEO and founder Rohit Chawla said, “We founded Innovist on the conviction that Indian consumers deserve beauty products built on real science with full transparency on formulation, and that these products could be made in India to global standards.”

CMO and co-founder Sifat Khurana added, “We built Innovist for consumers like me, without compromises and shortcuts. That intention has today resulted in a partnership with the world’s largest beauty company, and the beginning of a much larger chapter for Indian beauty.”

Chief R&D scientist and co-founder Vimal Bhola said, “At Innovist, scientific rigour has been the culture since day one. We share this deep-rooted foundation with L’Oréal and a shared vision for the future of beauty powered by science.”

The transaction will be completed after regulatory approvals, with L’Oréal expected to consolidate Innovist’s sales from closing and retain rights to acquire remaining minority stakes in the future.