This “impact” fund will be managed by Demeter and Cycle Capital, two asset management firms focused on ‘clean’ technologies, the first based in Paris and the second in Montreal.“This fund is open to other investors, from institutional to corporate and private ones,” said Alexandra Palt, the group’s chief corporate responsibility officer and CEO of the L’Oréal Foundation, speaking to the AFP agency.

The fund is currently endowed with €80 million in capital, and aims to reach €150 million.“The Circular Innovation Fund (CIF) will support start-ups and companies across North America, Europe and Asia that are promoting the circular use of resources across various sectors, including new materials from the bio-economy, circular solutions for packaging, recycling and waste, logistics, and eco-efficient processes,” L’Oréal stated in a press release.CIF will fund “projects in three continents where the circular economy has reached a degree of maturity, because we want to invest in well-proven projects whose test phase has been completed and which are moving on to the launch phase, projects we can help scale up,” said Palt.As examples of projects backed by CIF, L’Oréal cited circular fashion start-up For Days, which has helped recycle over 150,000 garments in the last 12 months, and Aphea.Bio, a company whose mission is to develop new, superior bio-chemicals for agricultural use, to reduce or substitute the widespread use of traditional chemicals.“Impact investing is a perfect illustration of sustainable finance, in other words the ability to combine financial value creation with environmental and social value creation,” said Christophe Babule, executive vice-president and CFO of L’Oréal, quoted in the press release.Paris, April 21 2022 (AFP