L’Oréal to Acquire Environmental Water-tech Start-up Gjosa
PARIS – L’Oréal has signed an agreement to acquire the outstanding shares it does not already own of Gjosa, the Swiss water fractioning technology company.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the next few weeks, were not disclosed.
More from WWD
As previously reported, L’Oréal took a minority stake in Gjosa in 2021 via its corporate venture capital fund Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development, or BOLD.
The French beauty giant initially partnered with Gjosa to introduce the L’Oréal Professionnel Water Saver shower head for use in professional salons. Listed among Time magazine’s “100 Best Inventions of the Year” in 2021, the patented water fragmentation technology in the L’Oréal Professionnel Water Saver by Gjosa can cut backbar water consumption by up to 69 percent.
The shower head since 2023 has been rolled out to more than 10,000 salons in Europe and the Middle East. That has contributed to saving more than 182 million liters of water, equal to 72 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to L’Oréal. The group said it expects to introduce the technology to more than 200,000 salons globally in years to come.
“Acquiring Gjosa further strengthens our ability to build sustainability directly into our products and services, allowing us to seamlessly integrate water-conserving technology into new formulations and beauty-tech innovations,” said Nicolas Hieronimus, chief executive officer of L’Oréal, in a statement. “Together, we can rapidly scale up sustainable beauty solutions with enhanced performance that are less resource-intensive and introduce them to the wider beauty ecosystem.”
“By 2030, nearly 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to be water-stressed. Combining science and technology will play a vital role in our efforts to protect this valuable resource. Both L’Oréal and Gjosa are passionately committed to the environment, providing the best beauty experiences to people around the world whilst conserving the precious resources of water,” said Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO in charge of research, innovation and technology at L’Oréal.
“With Gjosa officially joining L’Oréal, we can accelerate research and innovation, and go-to-market with more innovative and sustainable beauty-tech solutions for the professional and consumer markets,” she said.
Best of WWD
