L’Oréal Acquires Probiotic and Microbiome Research Company
PARIS — L’Oréal is building up its microbiome research know-how with the acquisition of Lactobio, a Danish probiotic and microbiome research company.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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“The strategic acquisition builds on 20 years of research by L’Oréal into the microbiome scientific territory, deepening its knowledge of the microorganisms that live on the skin’s surface and reinforcing the group’s leadership in this field,” L’Oréal said in a statement Monday. “This acquisition also opens up new opportunities, including leveraging Lactobio’s micrcobiome expertise and significant IP portfolio to develop effective new cosmetics solutions, including live bacteria.”
Søren Kjærulff and Charlotte Vedel founded Lactobio in 2017 in Copenhagen. They created a proprietary microbiome discovery platform and screening method to choose the most effective and safe strains, according to L’Oréal.
“These precision probiotics, created from a large biobank of lactobacillus bacteria, will be used in the development of topical formulations containing live bacteria, taking inspiration from nature to impart numerous benefits to skin and hair,” L’Oréal said.
“The integration of Lactobio into our advanced research is highly complementary: L’Oréal’s strong scientific knowledge and technological advancements coupled with Lactobio’s best-in-class formulations using living organisms will significantly strengthen and accelerate our microbiome research dedicated to beauty,” said Anne Colonna, global head of advanced research at L’Oréal.
“In joining forces, we aim to develop a new generation of cosmetics that will use cutting-edge innovations in the formulation process to provide science-based, precision probiotic and postbiotic products with new performance levels,” she continued.
“Denmark has a long history of innovation based on living microorganisms applied to food, agriculture and health, and it was against this background that we were inspired to create Lactobio,” said Kjærulff, who is also the company’s chief scientific officer.
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