Skip to content
Test your brand's health

Articles

The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021 – Introducing the Winner

The Red Tree and SFC Capital are delighted to announce that KANKAN, a modern personal care brand on a mission to make refill and reuse the desired lifestyle choice, is the Winner of The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021. KANKAN will receive £150,000 equity investment from SFC Capital, subject to the completion of commercial due diligence and agreement of terms, as well as strategic guidance from The Red Tree over the next 12 months.

 

Independent beauty brands across all categories applied to The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021 and after a competitive interview round, Atypical Cosmetics, KANKAN and This Hair Of Mine were selected to appear in The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021 Final. Each of the brand founders pitched to The Red Tree and SFC Capital and after debate and deliberation, KANKAN was unanimously selected as the deserving winner. 

Reflecting on to The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021, Stirling Murray, Managing Director of The Red Tree said:

“We were delighted by the quality of the 3 finalist brands for The Beauty Accelerator™ 2021. Their pitches in the Final were excellent and showed the hard work that each brand had made to get this far. We highly commend our runners up, Atypical Cosmetics and This Hair Of Mine and thank them for their participation in a closely fought competition. Both brands have impressive founders, creative propositions and will undoubtedly have successful futures. KANKAN, stood out due to their dynamic and formidable founders, Mary McLeod and Eliza Flanagan, their demonstration of growth and traction so far and their innovative solution to a global plastic waste problem. We congratulate KANKAN and are excited to be working with Mary and Eliza to support their growth over the next 12 months”. 

Adam Beveridge, Investment Associate for SFC Capital said: 

“We were very impressed with the quality of companies in this year’s competition. Each team showed great passion, expertise and ability to execute, ultimately validating that the beauty market has some great disruptors coming through. KANKAN showed that little bit of extra innovation in their growth and acquisition plans and looks to be a genuine solution to fighting bathroom waste, which shockingly still accounts for 30-40% of total landfill. We fully endorse their mission and look forward to supporting their journey with our investment”. 

Discussing their win, KANKAN founders Mary McLeod and Eliza Flanagan said:

“This is a great opportunity for KANKAN. We can’t wait to work with The Red Tree and SFC Capital to build on the initial traction and to offer a truly sustainable solution for our elevated bathroom essentials. Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey so far”. 

The Beauty Accelerator™ will return in 2022 and, brands that are interested in applying are advised to sign up to The Red Tree newsletter and follow The Red Tree and SFC Capital on social media to receive the latest updates. 

The Red Tree is the UK’s leading international beauty brand consultancy and a powerhouse of ideas, insight and inspiration. For an informal discussion on how we might help you, please contact us.

Our Series

Read More