The Red Tree, the UK’s leading international beauty brand consultancy, and SFC Capital, a leader in the UK’s early-stage investment world, are delighted to announce that The Beauty Accelerator™ is back for 2022.
Now in its third year, The Beauty Accelerator™ offers the UK’s best and most exciting independent beauty brands the chance to receive £150,000 equity investment from SFC Capital plus a year-long strategic partnership with The Red Tree. Due to an unprecedented and overwhelming number of applications last year, the time period for interested brands to apply has been extended, with applications to enter opening on 1st August and closing on 23rd September.
Speaking about the launch of The Beauty Accelerator™ 2022, Stirling Murray, Managing Director of The Red Tree said; “We are delighted that The Beauty Accelerator is returning. The UK beauty industry is thriving with exciting, creative, and dynamic entrepreneurs building the beauty brands of the future. Over the last two years, we have met many of them and enjoyed watching – and in the case of our Winner’s – actively participating in their success. Previous winners of The Beauty Accelerator include sustainable deodorant brand fussy, who have hit £3m in annual recurring revenue and have grown their team from 2 to 10 people whilst becoming the highest-rated natural deodorant on Trustpilot with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Fellow 2020 winner Faace, have moved into retail distribution at home and abroad and raised further investment to support future growth. The success stories continue with 2020 Finalist brand Cutbox raising investment through SFC and opening 5 salons with a 6th on the way, and 2021 Finalist brand Atypical Cosmetics, which also raised investment through SFC to further develop their fresh serums customised for individual skin. This is the first time that we will run The Beauty Accelerator without any Covid restrictions and we are looking forward to meeting brands that launched in the Covid era, which was a time that led to so many changes in how we enjoy and consume beauty and through which creativity and entrepreneurship thrived. Along with our partners, SFC Capital, we look forward to helping one new, inspiring UK beauty brand receive £150,000 of investment and partnering them for a year of growth”
Stephen Page, CEO of SFC Capital said “SFC are delighted to be working with The Red Tree to deliver The Beauty Accelerator once again. The beauty sector has been disproportionately affected over the past couple of years, and it is vitally important that we actively help the industry get back to normal, and the signs are good. To accommodate the increased demand post-pandemic, there has been a surge in beauty startups and an entirely new customer base, in the shape of virtual consultations which emerged during the pandemic. At SFC, we are always on the lookout for impressive companies that will become world leaders. We look forward to working with The Red Tree to support our winners over the next 12 months, and we are confident we will see some incredible applications for this accelerator.”
The best applicants will be short-listed and invited to attend virtual interviews with The Red Tree at the beginning of October. The most impressive brands will then be selected to appear in The Beauty Accelerator™ 2022 Final on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October. It is hoped that the Final will take place in person with each Finalist brand expected to pitch live to The Red Tree and SFC Capital.
*The Beauty Accelerator™ 2022 is open to beauty brands that are based and registered in the UK. Brands that entered The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021 can apply for The Beauty Accelerator™ 2022. Investment into the winning brand will be made via the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Brands do not need to be registered for SEIS to enter The Beauty Accelerator™ 2022 but it is advisable to be in the process of applying for SEIS and receiving Advanced Assurance from HMRC, which is free of charge to obtain and certifies to investors that the criteria necessary to qualify for SEIS have been met by the company at the time of the application. Brands must be SEIS registered at the point of investment. The application form and the full list of entry criteria can be found here: https://theredtree.co.uk/the-beauty-accelerator/