L’Oréal USA Announces Its 2015 Next Generation Award Winners
Women in Digital program honors female-founded technology companies
Cast Beauty, Maven and MikMak
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–L’Oréal
USA Women in Digital (WID), a program supporting and promoting
female entrepreneurs in technology, today announces the 2015 NEXT
Generation Award winners: Cast Beauty, Maven and MikMak. Now in its
fourth year, the NEXT Generation Awards are given to three
female-founded companies creating innovative business solutions within
all areas of technology to conceive, partner, launch, and scale new
digital ventures with the potential to disrupt and transform the beauty
industry, drive brand innovation, and generate value for L’Oréal USA.
“Through this program, L’Oréal is creating a strong community and
conversation around the important topic of women in digital,” said
Rachel Weiss, Vice President of Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship
at L’Oréal USA and chair of L’Oréal USA Women in Digital. “These
entrepreneurs have the potential to revolutionize the digital space,
drive brand innovation, and become the next generation of leaders in the
field. We are thrilled to be a part of their journey.”
According to a 2014 study by Babson University, women receive less than 5
percent of venture capital funding, despite evidence that
venture-backed female-led technology companies bring in 12 percent
higher revenue than similar male-led companies. The study also showed
that female-led companies have a 35 percent higher return on investment.
As a company whose primary consumers are women, L’Oréal recognizes this
discrepancy and strives to empower women and set an industry example of
finding creative ways to support them in technology.
The 2015 winners will have the opportunity to present at L’Oréal USA’s
Inspiration Day, the company’s annual internal marketing conference.
Held in November, this event brings together more than 450 marketing
executives who represent all of L’Oréal’s brands and the Women in Digital
strategic committee. Following live presentations, all attendees
will vote to award one entrepreneur a guaranteed pilot within the
company.
The program also grants award winners access to a network of mentors
including venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and top
executives to help guide and accelerate their businesses. The Women in
Digital Advisory board includes leaders in technology such as Joanne
Bradford, Chief Operating Officer at SoFi; Margit Wennmachers, Partner
at Andreessen Horowitz; Arianna Huffington, Chair, President and
Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group; Ann Miura-Ko,
Co-Founding Partner of Floodgate and Karin Klein, Partner at Bloomberg
Beta.
2015 NEXT GENERATION AWARD WINNERS:
-
Cast
Beauty – Sian Morson, founder and CEO: Cast
Beauty is the first mobile app that uses weather data to provide
personalized skin and hair care recommendations. Cast Beauty is
designed to fill the need for personalized beauty recommendations
based on climate and enables users to purchase appropriate products. -
Maven
– Katherine Ryder, founder and CEO: Maven is a platform that
empowers the female healthcare consumer to get access to better health
information and services. Maven has a network of hundreds of women’s
and family healthcare providers and provides prescriptions and doctor
visits via video appointment. -
MikMak
– Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO: MikMak is the first mobile
video shopping network available for iOS devices in the Apple App
Store. MikMak uses short, shoppable infomercials called “minimercials”
to showcase innovative products priced below $100 across accessories,
beauty, gadgets, jewelry, home goods, kitchenware and more.
Previous NEXT Generation Award winning companies and honorees
include: Glamsquad, the app-based beauty provider led by
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, that delivers professional beauty services to
the home or office in as little as an hour’s notice and has implemented
several partnerships with L’Oréal brands; Poptip, founded by
Kelsey Falter, which utilizes social media data analysis technology with
L’Oréal and signed on brands among the likes of Budweiser and Spotify
before being acquired by Palantir, a big data company that’s valued at
$20 billion; and Melody McCloskey’s StyleSeat, an
online marketplace for stylists and beauty professionals to connect with
clients that has raised $39 million in funding and partnered with
L’Oréal’s Professional Product Division to bring its entire network of
salon owners and stylists on board.
“Being a part of the L’Oréal NEXT Generation Awards has been an
integral part of growing the StyleSeat brand and community over the past
three years,” said Melody McCloskey, co-founder and CEO of StyleSeat and
2012 WID Honoree. “Partnering with an industry titan like L’Oréal has
opened up so many doors for us, and we have been able to help raise
brand awareness for its portfolio to a new generation of consumers by
featuring their network of professional salons on our platform.”
Over the past four years, the Women in Digital Program has created a
network of over 2,000 female entrepreneurs to potentially drive
innovation at L’Oréal. The success of these women has furthered
L’Oréal’s commitment to growing the Women in Digital Initiative each
year by identifying unique and creative ways to support women in
technology.
For more information, please visit http://lorealwomenindigital.com.
L’ORÉAL USA Women in Digital Program
L’Oréal USA Women in Digital was created to cultivate a strong network
and pipeline of female-run companies that can address the evolving needs
of beauty consumers through groundbreaking ideas, technologies and
content. The program promotes, supports and recruits female
entrepreneurs, providing them with the opportunity to launch and scale
digital innovations with L’Oréal brands. The annual WID NEXT
Generation Awards are given to three female-founded companies that
are considered game-changers, and have created innovative business
solutions that underscore the needs of the modern day connected
consumer, ranging from ecommerce, mobile, customer acquisition and big
data, to wearables and 3D printing. Collaboration with an industry
leader like L’Oréal – the third largest advertiser in the world – gives
these companies the opportunity to apply their technology within the
context of the beauty industry and gain access to decision-makers and
business leaders at L’Oréal and across the technology sector.
L’ORÉAL USA
L’Oréal USA is the largest subsidiary of the L’Oréal Group, the
worldwide leader in beauty. L’Oréal USA manages a portfolio of more than
30 iconic beauty brands, including Clarisonic, Essie, Garnier, Giorgio
Armani Beauty, Kérastase, Kiehl’s, Lancôme, L’Oréal Paris, Matrix,
Maybelline New York, NYX, Redken, Soft-Sheen Carson, Urban Decay and
Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. In addition to its corporate headquarters in
New York City, L’Oréal USA has research, manufacturing and distribution
facilities across 13 other states including Arkansas, California,
Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Washington with a
workforce of more than 10,000 employees. For more information, visit www.LorealUSA.com
or follow on Twitter @LOrealUSA.
L’ORÉAL USA Women in Digital
http://lorealwomenindigital.com/
Contacts
Media
Brew Media Relations:
Ashley Hopkins, 646-517-7544
LOreal@brewpr.com
or
L’Oréal
USA:
Emily Stephens, 212-885-1328
EStephens@us.loreal.com
