L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Innovist, a fast-growing Indian D2C personal care brand house.
Founded in 2019 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana, and Vimal Bhola, Innovist operates science-led brands including Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, Sunscoop, and Vinci Botanicals across India.
The transaction is estimated to value Innovist at between USD 350 – 450 million, making it one of the most significant consumer startup acquisitions in India’s beauty sector recently.
L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus described the acquisition as a testament to the company’s commitment to expanding its India footprint by combining global expertise with Innovist’s locally developed, science-led innovation.
Innovist’s products are distributed across its own direct-to-consumer platforms, major e-commerce and quick-commerce channels, and nationwide offline retail partnerships throughout India.
Under the agreement, the founding trio will retain a minority equity stake and continue to lead business operations in direct collaboration with L’Oréal India’s existing leadership team.
Innovist’s Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play brands will be fully integrated into L’Oréal’s Consumer Products Division portfolio once regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions are met.
L’Oréal, which posted India revenue of INR 5,925 Crores for the financial year ended March 2025, currently produces approximately 500 million units annually across its Indian manufacturing operations.
The deal reinforces a broader consolidation wave in India’s beauty sector, where global majors are aggressively acquiring digital-first D2C brands to capture the country’s rapidly expanding personal care market.
L’Oréal will begin consolidating Innovist’s financials from the date of the transaction’s close, and has also secured rights to fully buy out minority shareholders in the future.
Editor’s Note
From HUL acquiring Minimalist to Marico picking up Cosmix, and now L’Oréal securing Innovist, the message is unambiguous — India’s ingredient-conscious, digitally-native beauty consumer is a market priority, not an afterthought.
L’Oréal’s move to acquire a majority stake in Innovist is not just a transaction — it is a strategic endorsement of what India’s new-age beauty founders have been quietly building for years.
What makes this deal particularly significant is the broader consolidation wave it sits within, where global FMCG giants are no longer waiting for Indian D2C brands to mature before moving in.
This acquisition marks a defining moment for India’s D2C beauty ecosystem, signalling growing global confidence in homegrown, science-backed personal care brands built for the digitally-savvy Indian consumer.
Innovist’s ability to scale Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play through rigorous formulation science and transparent communication has clearly set a new benchmark for what global acquirers look for in Indian beauty assets.
For India’s retail and D2C community, this deal offers a compelling proof of concept — that building with authenticity, local relevance, and scientific rigour can attract world-class partnerships and valuations.
As India’s personal care market continues its upward trajectory, we expect this acquisition to catalyse a new wave of investment into the country’s homegrown beauty innovation engine, inspiring the next generation of founders to dream bigger and build bolder.
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