L’Oréal and Nykaa are joining forces to invest in emerging Indian beauty and personal care brands as global beauty companies look beyond selling into India and increasingly seek exposure to the homegrown businesses being built within the market.
BOLD, L’Oréal’s corporate venture capital fund, and Indian beauty retailer Nykaa will jointly take minority stakes in high-growth Indian beauty and wellness companies with established consumer traction and differentiated propositions. Financial terms and the size of the investment pool were not disclosed. Neither company has yet named the brands it intends to back or disclosed how investments will be sourced, selected, or divided between the two partners.
The structure is deliberately hands-off; founders will retain control of their companies and continue operating independently, including maintaining their existing teams, cultures, and creative direction. Instead, the partnership combines investment capital with L’Oréal’s global beauty expertise and Nykaa’s knowledge of the Indian consumer, retail network, and distribution infrastructure.
“India is one of the most exciting beauty markets in the world, and its energy comes both from an expanding base of demanding consumers with rapidly evolving needs and from its ecosystem of tremendous entrepreneurs,” Jacques Lebel, Managing Director of L’Oréal India, said in a statement.
“Through BOLD and this partnership with Nykaa, we want to stand behind that talent, backing founders with capital, mentorship, and L'Oréal's beauty expertise, while leaving them free to build their brands their way.”
The collaboration also gives L’Oréal another route into India’s emerging beauty system without requiring the company to acquire brands outright. BOLD, launched in 2018, invests through minority stakes across beauty and wellness brands as well as science and technology companies serving the beauty industry.
The Nykaa partnership builds on several years of investment by L’Oréal in India’s consumer and beauty start-up ecosystem. In 2019, BOLD invested in an Indian consumer-focused venture fund, Fireside Ventures, and, in 2023, backed DSG Consumer Partners IV, which invests in early-stage consumer businesses across India and Southeast Asia. Those investments gave L’Oréal indirect exposure to emerging companies; its latest partnership with Nykaa creates a more direct route to taking minority stakes in individual Indian beauty and wellness brands.
This year, the group agreed to acquire a majority stake in Innovist, the Indian personal care company behind haircare brand Bare Anatomy and skin and bodycare brand Chemist at Play, its first acquisition of an Indian company since Cheryl’s Cosmeceuticals in 2013. Its commitment now extends beyond brands: L’Oréal is also investing more than €350 million ($383 million) in a global beauty tech hub in Hyderabad, expected to employ 2,000 people across AI, engineering, and data roles. The Nykaa partnership adds another layer to that investment infrastructure, giving BOLD a local partner with visibility into consumer demand, emerging brands, and distribution as it looks to identify potential investments earlier in their growth.
For Nykaa, the agreement expands its role beyond distributor and retailer of beauty brands into the infrastructure supporting their development. As of June 30, 2026, Nykaa served more than 60 million customers and operated 324 physical beauty locations alongside its digital business. Its portfolio also includes homegrown brands such as Nykaa Cosmetics, Dot & Key, Kay Beauty, Earth Rhythm, and Nykaa Wanderlust.
The company has become an important route into India for international beauty brands, working with names including Rare Beauty, K18, Charlotte Tilbury, and e.l.f. Beauty. “The experience and lessons we have learned along the way have allowed us to understand what it takes to build a promising brand into an enduring one,” Anchit Nayar, Executive Director and CEO of Nykaa Beauty, said in the press release.
L’Oréal is not the first global beauty group to look to Nykaa for access to India’s emerging beauty ecosystem. The retailer has spent the past four years working with the Estée Lauder Companies on BEAUTY&YOU India, launched in 2022 to identify and support India-focused beauty founders through funding, mentorship, and industry access.
The Esteé Lauder program has expanded considerably since its first edition. The program received more than 660 applications from over 150 Indian cities in 2024, roughly double the volume received at launch, while Startup India joined the initiative in 2025.
Now entering its fifth edition, BEAUTY&YOU is moving closer to the investment model itself. Estée Lauder describes the 2026 iteration as evolving into a “strategic investment platform” spanning Indian beauty brands, technologies, ingredient innovation, and entrepreneurial talent. The program offers up to $500,000 across five categories alongside mentorship and Nykaa distribution support, with selected winners also eligible for commercial pilots or collaborations with Estée Lauder.
The evolution of the program comes as Estée Lauder is making a broader investment in Indian beauty. Earlier this year, the company agreed to acquire luxury Ayurvedic beauty brand Forest Essentials, following a relationship that began with a minority investment more than 15 years earlier. While Forest Essentials predates BEAUTY&YOU and is separate from the program, the deal demonstrates the longer-term strategic relationships that can begin with minority investment.
The new BOLD-Nykaa partnership differs from both companies’ previous approaches. Unlike BEAUTY&YOUR’s entrepreneurship-led model or BOLD’s earlier investments through Indian venture funds, it establishes direct minority investment in individual emerging brands as the model from the outset, with Nykaa and L’Oréal jointly identifying and backing companies while founders retain control.
The partnership points to a broader shift in how multinational beauty companies are approaching India. The opportunity extends beyond capturing spending from India’s growing beauty consumer base. The country’s founders, brands, formulations, ingredients, and business models are emerging as strategic assets in their own right—and ones worth identifying early.
Nykaa’s involvement in both initiatives also strengthens its position as an intermediary between India’s emerging beauty companies and global strategic capital. For L’Oréal, the partnership provides a way to place smaller bets earlier. Rather than waiting for an Indian beauty company to reach acquisition scale, BOLD can take a minority position while the founders remain in control and the brand continues to establish itself.
The stated ambition is not confined to building businesses solely for the domestic market. L’Oréal and Nykaa say they want to help founders build brands for “India and the world.” Global beauty’s interest in India is increasingly moving beyond what it can sell to Indian consumers and toward what Indian beauty businesses might eventually sell to everyone else.
