A UAE Startup Just Bagged A Major Win In L’Oréal’s Biggest Beauty-Tech Competition

Innovation in beauty isn’t just happening in Paris or Silicon Valley anymore; it’s happening right here in the UAE. And we’ve just landed a MAJOR win!
Halo AI, a Dubai-born startup that’s reimagining influencer marketing through artificial intelligence, has been crowned one of the winners of L’Oréal’s 2025 SAPMENA Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program, the largest competition of its kind across South Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa.

A game-changer for brands and creators

Influencer marketing is great… until you realise how much time goes into searching, vetting, managing, and measuring. Halo AI has basically turned that process from a marathon into a sprint. The Dubai-designed platform automates influencer discovery and campaign management, helping brands work with authentic nano and micro-influencers in as little as 15 minutes while cutting manual work by up to 80%. Real results, real transparency… and way less headache.

 

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This was no easy win, the competition was fierce

L’Oréal’s Big Bang program isn’t your average pitch contest. More than 50,000 startups were scouted, with applications narrowed down across a nine-month marathon. Finalists presented in Singapore to judges from L’Oréal, Google, Meta and Veros Ventures. Halo AI came out on top, alongside startups from Australia and India, showing that the UAE isn’t just participating, it’s competing and winning.

 

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What’s next? A chance to partner with L’Oréal’s Global brands

The winners will now collaborate with L’Oréal through a commercial pilot, potentially scaling across 35 markets! They’ll also get a year of mentorship with senior leaders at L’Oréal and partners, including Google, Meta and Accenture. That means Halo AI could soon be powering influencer campaigns at a global scale.