L’Oréal USA wants to support female-founded tech startups in the beauty biz.
By Betsy Mikel (Editor, Women 2.0)

If your startup is tackling a tough problem in beauty, here’s a contest that could mean big things for your company. L’Oréal USA has just opened submissions for their Women In Digital Next Generation Awards. They’re looking for innovative companies founded by women that are making waves in the beauty industry. You’re welcome to apply yourself or nominate another founder.

Who Should Apply?

L’Oréal is looking for three female-founded companies that are game-changers in the technology space, specifically those impacting the beauty business.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Companies must have working technology, not just paper napkin ideas.
• Companies with proven success in other sectors that are looking to pivot their existing products into the beauty sector are also encouraged to apply.
• L’Oréal is seeking business solutions that meet the needs of its entire portfolio of brands across media, technology and connected devices.
• To qualify, companies must have a female founder and/or CEO, or is led by a woman with a C-level title who contributes to strategic direction of the company. In other words, does she have power and influence in the company? Is her amount of equity “fair” given her role and the stage of the company when she joined?

What Do You Win?

Three winners will receive a trip to NYC where they will be recognized at L’Oréal’s Annual Inspiration Day. They’ll also receive ongoing mentorship from and access to L’Oréal executives and Advisory Board members.

Here’s the full list of prizes:

• Trip to New York City to present at L’Oréal’s annual Inspiration Day in front of 500 marketers
• Recognition in press material
• Introductions to potential investors and L’Oréal executives
• Ongoing mentorship from L’Oréal USA executives and Advisory Board members
• Invitations to networking events with members of our Advisory Board
• One grand prize winner will receive a pilot with one of L’Oréal USA’s Brands voted on at Inspiration Day

Why Should You Go for It?

What startup isn’t looking for more exposure and support to push their big ideas forward? If your tech startup is focused in the beauty space, it’s a no brainer.

L’Oréal is the world’s largest beauty company. And they’re offering opportunity and resources to make a difference and elevate the profiles of female-led companies in the technology space. They want to be a part of shaping the next generation of the beauty industry.

Last Year’s Winners: Consumer Electronics, Social Measurement and On-Demand Beauty

For some insight on what types of companies L’Oréal is looking for, take a look at the 2014 Award Winners.

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal – Founder & CEO, Jibo

Jibo, Inc. is an innovative consumer electronics company that is creating for world’s first social robot for the home. Jibo brings intelligence and personality to everything it does to help you as an at-home assistant that learns about you over time and personalizes itself to you to help you care, coordinate and connect with your family and loved ones with greater ease and delight.

Tania Yuki – Founder & CEO, Shareablee

Shareablee measures the world’s social interactions with brands. We provide actionable competitive insights for marketers, and reveal what to stop/start doing to drive engagement and ROI using data to benchmark your performance. Actionable analytics offer deep, unique social intelligence for brands – specifically across competitive benchmarking, paid media identification and spend, content best practices and social audience tracking for deeper customer insights.

Victoria Eisner – Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder, GLAMSQUAD

GLAMSQUAD is an on-demand beauty delivery app that sends high quality, professionally trained hair stylists and make up artists to your home or office, for blowouts and makeup applications. Services can be booked in as little as one hour’s notice and the trained professionals bring all of the salon tools and products to you. GLAMSQUAD saves you the trip to the salon, making getting ready a whole lot easier!

Submissions close August 14, so head to lorealwomenindigital.com to nominate your company or someone else’s!

About the author: Betsy Mikel is the managing editor of Women 2.0 and runs the content consultancy Aveck. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a lifelong obsession with French language and culture. When she’s not biking all over every city she visits to find its best taqueria, you can find Betsy on Twitter at @betsym.