In its first venture capital investment into the metaverse or web3 worlds, the beauty giant is backing a company that allows brands to build their own virtual spaces.

The minority investment in the Digital Village, a “metaverse-as-a-service” platform that enables brands to build end-to-end blockchain-enabled 3D spaces, was made through L’Oréal’s corporate venture capital fund, BOLD.

Digital Village raised a total of $4 million in the round from BOLD and other investors, it said in a statement. It will use the new capital to expand the capabilities of its platform, “adding new tools to drive 3D world development, advanced avatar customization, and virtual store creation.”

Camille Kroely, L’Oréal’s director of metaverse and web3, said in a statement that Digital Village tools…