Indie beauty brands encouraged to enter Beauty Accelerator 2021

Independent beauty brand founders are being invited to enter their companies into the annual Beauty Accelerator initiative - when it returns for 2021 later this month.

Organised by beauty brand consultancy The Red Tree, in partnership with SFC Capital, the initiative offers independent beauty brands the opportunity to receive £150,000 of equity investment and a year-long collaborative partnership with The Red Tree to help accelerate brand growth.

Previous winners include Faace founder Jasmine Wicks-Stephens and Matt Kennedy and Eddie Fisher, co-founders of the natural and sustainable deodorant brand Fussy.

The competition is set to open for entries on 31 August and will close on 24 September.

The Beauty Accelerator 2021 Final will be held on 20 and 21 October 2021, with each Finalist required to pitch their business plan to The Red Tree and SFC Capital.  

Red Tree managing director Stirling Murray said: “The Beauty Accelerator 2020 was a great success with a huge number of high-quality applicants.

“We continue to see so many dynamic independent brands created by brilliant founders. Following the success of the 2020 programe we look forward to applicants from brands across all categories – from colour cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, haircare, male grooming, supplements, sexual wellness and beauty tech.

“We are excited about discovering entrepreneurs who are driving game changing innovation, creating disruptive brands, and building impressive companies that display the potential to become global.” 

Encouraging indie beauty brands to enter, Fussy founders Matt Kennedy and Eddie Fisher said: “Make sure you have a clear vision of how your brand breaks the category norms, if you have this, alongside the ability to implement your vision, the game is on!”

The pair, who launched the sustainable deodorant brand earlier this year, recently found themselves in hot water with Unilever, after running adverts online comparing Fussy’s environmentally friendly products to Unilever’s.

The Fussy brand made headlines over the weekend after it delivered a three-meter olive tree to Unilever’s HQ by way of an apology.