L’Oréal has named Intrinsic Foundries, Psyke and Uluu the winners of its 2026 Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program, announced at the Grand Finale in Singapore on 13 November. Each startup earns a fully funded commercial pilot with one of the group’s international brands.
Key Takeaways
- Intrinsic Foundries (India), Psyke (Australia) and Uluu (Australia) won the 2026 Big Bang Grand Finale in Singapore.
- Each wins a funded pilot with a L’Oréal brand, a year of mentorship and potential reach across 35 SAPMENA markets.
- 49 per cent of consumers already get beauty recommendations from generative AI platforms, according to NielsenIQ.
The programme brings together startups from South Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa (SAPMENA). Winners can pilot with one of L’Oréal‘s 40 international brands and tap potential exposure across 35 markets. They also receive year-long mentorship from senior executives at L’Oréal and programme partners Accenture, Google and Meta.
Hector, an Indian AI commerce platform, received a Special Mention.
“Silicon Valley may come to mind first for startups, but the future of beauty is being built right here,” said Vismay Sharma, President of L’Oréal South Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa.
How the Beauty Tech finalists were chosen
Now in its third year, this year’s challenge, “Leading the change in Beauty Tech”, asked startups to build solutions under one of five themes: Connected Brand Experience, Creators & Affiliates, AI-Powered Commerce, Science for Beauty and Innovation for Good.
Following regional finals in late September, 10 finalists from Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand, and the Middle East pitched live in Singapore. The judging panel included Marc Dicko, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at L’Oréal SAPMENA, alongside representatives from Accenture, Google and Meta.
Melissa Guan, Vice President and Head of the Consumer Industry Group at the Singapore Economic Development Board, said the agency was “excited to continue our partnership with L’Oréal to bring these innovations to life in Singapore”.
The winning startups: AI, circularity and biomanufacturing
Intrinsic Foundries (India) converts industrial carbon waste into beauty ingredients. Its Carbon to X platform grows microalgae in closed reactors fed with captured carbon dioxide, producing lipids, pigments, proteins and vegan carmine on demand. Its reactors have run continuously for more than 150 days at an industrial site. The startup has raised US$1.4 million in a round led by Transition VC and already supplies Indian cosmetic and nutraceutical brands.
Psyke (Australia) targets how AI assistants describe brands. Its AI Corroboration Engine tracks and refines content across the channels that AI models learn from, so each engine promotes the same approved product story. Psyke says a retail brand saw 6.5 times more organic clicks in three months, while a direct-to-consumer brand gained 181 per cent more clicks in nine weeks. The company has raised US$7.5 million to date.
Uluu (Australia) makes a plastic alternative from farmed seaweed and saltwater. It has developed an injection-moulding grade for cosmetic packaging and is TÜV Austria certified for home compostability and marine biodegradability. Uluu has raised more than A$30 million from investors including Main Sequence.
What Big Bang means for Beauty Tech in Asia-Pacific
The Special Mention, Hector, is part of Wondrlab and powers 219 brands across India and the US. It manages more than ₹1,000 crore (US$100 million) in annual ad spend.
Successful pilots could lead to wider collaboration with L’Oréal globally. The other Grand Finalists included Singapore’s NYB.AI and RePlasTerial, as well as droplinked and Hypely from the UAE, Maia by Shopalyst from India and SUPERFAN from Malaysia.
