PARIS – Capsum, a CMDO in advanced skin care, makeup and hair care formulation and manufacturing, has changed hands.
Motion Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in the company from Chanel, which remains a minority shareholder in Capsum, as do Sébastien Bardon, its founding chief executive officer, and the management team.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re opening the third chapter of Capsum’s adventure,” Bardon said, adding it is one of continuity.
“We have been deeply impressed by Capsum’s unique positioning at the intersection of technology, beauty and industrial excellence,” said Patrick Eisenchteter, managing partner at Motion Equity Partners. “Capsum is a science-led company where innovation and sustainability are engineered end-to-end.
“The group has known a remarkable journey, from scientific breakthroughs to a distinctive innovation platform,” he continued. “With a unique technological know-how and outstanding innovation capabilities, Capsum has developed privileged relationships with the world’s leading beauty brands. We are delighted to partner with Sébastien Bardon and the entire Capsum team and look forward to supporting them in this ambitious new phase of growth.
He explained the first chapter for the group, then best known for its expertise in microfluidics, a proprietary technology used to encapsulate active ingredients and create visually distinctive and highly sensorial textures, came at the start of the company in 2008. That is when his team navigated prototypes and held discussions with potential clients to figure out what Capsum could bring to the industry with its technology.
The second chapter was about strengthening the group’s scientific base and developing the company, while Chanel was its majority owner for the next 11 years.
The French luxury group was Capsum’s first client and remain its top client. “They are a fantastic partner for innovation,” Bardon said.
In this phase, Capsum became a multitechnology CMDO, or Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization, developing and manufacturing both microfluidic – which comprised almost 40 percent of the U.S. business – and non-microfluidic products for the likes of skin care and makeup.
Its partners include luxury and prestige beauty brands including also Elizabeth Arden, Galénic, La Prairie, L’Occitane and Meaningful Beauty.
“Now, Chanel and I decided to move to the third chapter – the expansion, to boost the growth of Capsum in Europe, but more so abroad in Asia and in the U.S. For this third chapter, we thought that we should add to the engine external growth and acquisitions, and that should be center to the strategy for the next five to 10 years,” he continued. “So we decided it would be better to partner with someone who really knows about acquisitions.”
This is where the private equity fund comes in.
“We thought that Motion Equity Partners would be the right candidate and the right partner for the future,” Bardon said.
Motion Equity Partners is a French mid-market firm.
“They are at human size and have a very good track record in different industries,” Bardon said. “They like factories – not all private equity likes factories – and that’s important to us. They also have very good track record at helping their portfolio companies to build up and make acquisitions specifically abroad.”
Further, this new majority stakeholder is in line with Capsum’s continuing to reinvest more than 10 percent of its sales in research and development.
“That’s what makes Capsum unique,” Bardon said.
The company’s ambition is to become among the top-five worldwide CMDOs in beauty.
“So to do that, we expect and we aim at quintupling our revenue in the next five years,” Bardon said. “It’s possible, because when we look at the last 10 years, we have multiplied revenue by a factor of 17 only with organic growth. And now we’re bringing up external growth to complement organic growth.”
Capsum’s annual sales today are close to 80 million euros, with approximately one-third coming from the U.S. About two-thirds coming from skin care and one-third from makeup. Its growth significantly outperforms the CDMO cosmetic market.
The first levers Capsum has to quintuple its sales include being successful in the U.S. The group opened a manufacturing facility in Austin, TX, in 2020. More recently in the country, it acquired KKT Labs, which brings Capsum local formulation capabilities as well as local leadership and a network of U.S.-based brands.
“We are planning 50 percent growth in the U.S. next year,” Bardon said.
“Number two, we want to become the destination for fragrance innovation,” he said, explaining for Capsum that is water-based fragrance and innovative ancillaries, such as scented body products and hair mists. The group will enter the fragrance category next year.
“There is so much for us to do in this field that we’re very excited,” Bardon said.
Capsum also aims to be able to develop other capabilities, such as R&D and manufacturing in Asia quickly through acquisition, because it wants to serve local brands.
“Since most of the packaging is made in China, it makes sense to operate directly [there],” Bardon said. “Also, we think that Asia is becoming a really big hub for innovation, and that’s what we are, so we want to be part of it directly.
“We think that it’s super important that in the next years we’re able to serve every client from the continent they want us to serve them,” he said. “Brands start to talk about local sourcing – some like it, some don’t like it. So we want to be just open and allow brands to decide where their products are made, whatever the product is.”
Looking a bit further down the line, Capsum hopes to move into producing nutraceuticals and other supplements.
For the company, targeted acquisitions could be made to complement its technology portfolio.
“We started as the microfluidics pioneer in beauty, and then over the last five years we’ve evolved and developed new technologies,” Bardon said. Today, for instance, in the U.S. more than half of Capsum’s business is made from emulsions and advanced emulsion-enabled technologies.
Capsum employs 270 people, one-third of which do R&D, and has R&D and manufacturing capabilities in Marseille, France. In Austin, there’s manufacturing, and R&D is slated to open in mid-November.
“Then we’ll see for Asia,” Bardon said.
He highlighted that 2026 is the year of the horse in the Chinese calendar.
“I started the year telling my team that for us I say ‘cheval fougueux,’” Bardon said, referring to a “fiery steed.”