L’Oréal announces acquisition of ColoRight

18-Dec-2014 - Last updated on 18-Dec-2014 at 11:23 GMT

Cosmetics giant L’Oréal has announced the acquisition of an Israeli start-up company in a move that reinforces its hair care innovation and research.

ColoRight is based in Tel Aviv and develops hair fibre optical reader technology for a long-term research program.

While no financial information for the acquisition was disclosed, L’Oréal has said that ColoRight will continue to be managed by its current CEO, Sagiv Lustig, and will from now on be part of its international Research and Innovation network.

ColoRight is a provider of beauty-tech solutions that overcome the challenges posed by hair and skin pigmentation when applying hair colouring and colour cosmetics.

The company leverages scientific expertise and patented technology to develop an innovative platform and a range of diagnostic tools and systems that it claims are revolutionizing the way hair colouring and colour cosmetics are offered to users.

It is understood that it is the hair care side of the business is the more attractive option for L’Oréal at this stage, as it looks to build on its strong reputation in hair research.

Global hair research network

L’Oréal has a global network of regional research centers spearheaded by its Global Hair Research Centre in Saint-Ouen, Paris; which opened in 2012.

The center’s Research & Innovation program relates exclusively to the hair businesses, namely Dyeing, Hair Care (shampoos and conditioners) and ‘Shaping’, which covers styling (lacquers, gels and waxes), perming, straightening and relaxing.

“This Research Centre illustrates our strategy for the universalization of beauty, which relies on in-depth knowledge of the particularities and expectations of consumers in order to offer them tailored beauty, i.e. adapted to their various lifestyles, beauty routines and spending power,” CEO Jean-Paul Agon said of the centre when it opened.

The Saint-Ouen facility is one of six regional R&I centers, with the others located in Japan, China, India, the United States, and Brazil.

These regional hubs’ hair laboratories also have a dual role: to interpret the innovation strategies proposed by the global centre and adapt them to the particularities of their market in order to invent new products that meet local consumers’ expectations.

It is understood that following this acquisition, ColoRight will join the global Research & Innovation network.