L'Oréal India in Final Talks to Acquire Beauty Startup Innovist for $450 Million

L’Oréal India in Final Talks to Acquire Beauty Startup Innovist for $450 Million

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3.22.2026

Quick Facts

L’Oréal is in final talks to acquire Innovist for $350-450 million, potentially closing by April
Innovist crossed Rs 300 crore in revenue and turned profitable in FY25 with 2.8x year-over-year growth
The deal would be one of India’s largest beauty acquisitions, surpassing HUL’s Minimalist purchase

L’Oréal India is in advanced negotiations to acquire a controlling stake in beauty startup Innovist for $350-450 million, according to multiple media reports. The talks have been ongoing for about a year and have entered the final phase.

The deal values Innovist at 4.3-5.4 times revenue, aligning with typical consumer brand multiples. If completed at the proposed valuation, it would exceed Hindustan Unilever’s acquisition of Minimalist last year for approximately Rs 3,000 crore.

Innovist, founded in 2018 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana and Vimal Bhola, operates D2C brands including Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, SunScoop and Vinci Botanicals. The company positions itself as a science-first personal care platform with in-house R&D capabilities.

The startup’s financial performance has improved dramatically. Innovist crossed Rs 300 crore in revenue and reported a Rs 12 crore profit in FY25, compared to a Rs 12.5 crore loss the previous year. Revenue is expected to reach Rs 750-770 crore in FY26 while maintaining profitability.

L’Oréal plans to initially acquire a controlling stake, then gradually increase ownership to full control over the next few years. Current shareholders include founders holding 49.7% combined, plus investors like Sauce VC, Point72 Ventures and ICICI Ventures.

The acquisition reflects L’Oréal’s aggressive push into India’s beauty market. During the company’s Q4 earnings call, CEO Nicolas Hieronimus acknowledged the need to improve performance in India, which generates only 1% of L’Oréal’s global turnover despite having massive potential.

“I am optimistic, ambitious, but we need to do better,” Hieronimus said. “We had high single-digit growth, we did not gain a lot of market share, if any.”

The deal comes as India’s beauty and personal care market reached Rs 152,000 crore in 2024, up from Rs 138,000 crore in 2023. L’Oréal has recently invested in Indian brands Deconstruct and Arata through its BOLD venture fund and announced a new technology center in Hyderabad.

For co-founder Rohit Chawla, this represents a potential second major exit after selling The Man Company to Emami in 2024 for around Rs 400 crore. The acquisition would signal that India’s D2C beauty wave is being absorbed into mainstream operations by global giants.