L’Oréal Backs Chinese Clean Beauty Brand Lan

Adding to its growing portfolio of Chinese brands and startups, L’Oréal has announced a minority investment in Lan, a Hangzhou-based clean beauty brand.

The investment was made via L’Oréal’s China fund Shanghai Meicifang Investment and its corporate venture capital arm BOLD. This marks Meicifang’s first investment in a Chinese skincare brand.

Founded in 2019, Lan became one of the first clean beauty brands in the market, advocating for oil treatments that deliver “both high performance and a sensorial experience, presented with a distinctive natural and minimalist aesthetic,” L’Oréal said in a press release.

Powered by biotechnologies such as “molecular oil extraction” and “botanical healing”, Lan’s collections, such as Time Orchid and Phoenix Brightening, blend “Eastern wisdom” with simplified skincare concepts.

Its signature products has helped the brand achieve 200 million renminbi, or $28.1 million, in revenue in 2020, according to local media reports.

From 2023 to 2024, Lan ranked number one in national facial oil sales volume for two consecutive years, based on data from Frost & Sullivan.

This year, the brand achieved 100 percent independent research and development across all product lines.

“This investment in Lan further highlights the pivotal position of the Chinese market in L’Oréal’s global strategy,” said Vincent Boinay, president of the North Asia Zone and chief executive officer of L’Oréal China.

“With a long-term commitment, we will continue to invest in the Chinese market, partnering with more local brands to collectively shape the future of beauty and meeting the expectation of the savvy Chinese consumers,” Boinay added.

“In the Eastern culture, the orchid represents noble purity. It symbolizes a quiet power of internal exploration and growth. Our brand, Lan, is inspired by this spirit,” said Lan founder Xiaolan Ding. “Through this partnership, Lan aims at bringing Eastern traditions and herbs to the world.”

L’Oréal launched BOLD — Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development — in late 2018. The fund takes minority stakes in promising start-ups.

This February, BOLD invested in two Indian beauty brands, Deconstruct and Arata.

In China, Meicifang has invested in fragrance brands To Summer and Documents. This April, the fund backed the foundation brand First Cover.