L’Oréal has selected 13 companies from eight countries for the second cohort of its sustainability focused innovation programme, L’AcceleratOR. The cohort includes two startups from India.

Backed by a €100 million (around Rs 1,000 crore) fund, the programme identifies, pilots and scales technologies focused on challenges across climate, nature and circularity.

The Indian startups selected for the cohort are Without, a climate tech company developing technology to recycle hard to recycle flexible packaging into durable materials, and Nexus [Felis Leo Widgets], which is developing technology to produce energy storage batteries using agricultural waste.

Without was previously selected as a winner of the L’Oréal SAPMENA Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program.

The 13 companies will enter an acceleration phase led by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) innovation team, with a focus on pilot readiness. They will also have access to L’Oréal’s global resources to develop 6 to 9 month pilot projects, with the possibility of scaling successful solutions across the group’s operations.

The second edition of L’AcceleratOR has expanded its geographical reach and covers a wider set of sustainability challenges, including water technology for the first time.

L’Oréal will also launch Entering L’AcceleratOR, a docuseries following three companies from the programme’s first cohort and their work with L’Oréal teams to pilot and commercialise their solutions.