L’Oréal leads a seed financing round in Digital Village to expand to the Metaverse & NFTs
BOLD, L’Oréal’s corporate venture capital arm, has made its first investment in the metaverse and Web3 space by participating in a seed financing round targeting Digital Village, a metaverse-as-a-service platform and NFT marketplace for brands, creators, and communities.
A new showcase for L’Oreal values
L’Oréal, the global cosmetics giant, has announced a minority investment in US-based startup Digital Village, a metaverse-as-a-service platform and NFT marketplace for brands, creators, and communities.
This move marks a significant step for L’Oréal in exploring and defining the role of beauty in the Web3 space and is aligned with the arrival of other relevant players to the ecosystem, such as Rolls Royce.
The company has stated that it is excited to work with startups that adhere to the highest possible visual and technical standards and that it allows it to share its ideals of sustainability, accessibility, and interoperability in the metaverse.
Digital Village was founded in 2021 by Evelyn Mora, a former digital and sustainability consultant for leading brands and the founder of the sustainability-focused Helsinki Fashion Week. The company is led by an international team spanning the US, Europe, and Asia, and offers new, scalable technologies for the creation and interaction of digital identities and assets in virtual worlds. Digital Village’s Advisory Board includes founders and top executives from PANGAIA, The Sandbox, and Wave.
L’Oréal & Digital Village: Expanding Beauty in the Metaverse
In a statement, Camille Kroely, Chief Metaverse & Web3 Officer at L’Oréal, said:
“We are excited to be partnering with Digital Village, whose solutions will be powerful enablers for our brands and whose ideals of sustainability, accessibility, and interoperability in the metaverse or Web3 are ones we share.”
Evelyn Mora, Founder and CEO of Digital Village, also commented on the investment:
“We are excited to be backed by BOLD and look forward to collaborating with L’Oréal to revolutionize the beauty industry through the creation of cutting-edge virtual experiences for L’Oréal’s renowned brands. Together, we are setting the bar for beauty in the metaverse and Web3, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and setting a new standard for the industry to follow.”
The Venture Reality Fund (VR Fund), a Silicon Valley-based tech venture capital firm specialized in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), co-leads this seed financing round in Digital Village alongside BOLD.
This investment is also the first made by BOLD’s Female Founders initiative, which was launched in 2022. The initiative aims to support and empower female entrepreneurs in the technology and beauty space and is in line with L’Oréal’s wider commitment to diversity and inclusion.
New opportunities on the horizon
The investment in Digital Village is a significant move for L’Oréal and its endeavors into the Web3 space. With the growing popularity of virtual worlds and NFTs, the partnership with Digital Village could potentially open up new and exciting opportunities for L’Oréal’s brands in the metaverse.
As the metaverse and Web3 space continue to grow, this investment could prove to be a smart move for L’Oréal. It will be interesting to see how the partnership with Digital Village develops in the coming months and years, and how L’Oréal’s brands will be able to leverage the platform to create exciting and engaging virtual experiences for users.
