CEW Cheat Sheet: June 8, 2023

As the apocalyptic smoke that blanketed New York City yesterday slowly starts to fade, we hope all our members across the northeast region are staying safe. This morning’s news headlines and our personal lives are dominated by the climate crisis caused by the current Canadian wildfires. We continue to keep tabs on the beauty world, however, and today we have the announcement that Beautycon will officially return, L’Oréal is betting big on biotech, and food delivery service Instacart inexplicably has decided to get into the fragrance biz. Read these stories and more in the links below.

Instacart Just Created a Fragrance Inspired by … the Grocery Store? The delivery service just launched its first-ever perfume inspired by “the smell of cash back”, which apparently smells like zesty lemon and rosemary. (Allure)

Beautycon Returns to New Orleans and LA. Acquired by Essence Ventures in 2021, the beauty festival is back with a new team, a new tagline, and a new activist stance — aiming to take the “definition of beauty out of the hands of the brands and putting it in the hands of the individuals”. (Beauty News)

What Constitutes a High-Value Asset in Today’s Beauty Industry? What goes into cultivating a high-value beauty asset? The expert-filled panel at Beauty Independent’s Dealmaker Summit delved into the topic, the highlights of which you can read here. (Beauty Independent)

L’Oréal Invests in Biotech Firm, Betting on a New Generation of Active Ingredients. Bold, L’Oréal’s corporate venture arm, led Series B funding for Debut, a biotech firm that discovers ingredients, produces them (and will then license them to other companies), creates formulas, and conducts clinical trials. It’s set to launch its own brand by the end of 2023. (Glossy)

Meta to Debut Channels Broadcasting Tool for WhatsApp. Separate from chats with friends, family, and communities, the new feature is akin to a “private broadcast service” and allows admins who oversee a WhatsApp channel to send text, photos, stickers and polls to their followers. (CNBC)