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Facilitating Fundraising for Beauty Startups

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™ returns in 2024.

 

The Beauty Accelerator™ offers the UK’s most exciting independent beauty brands the chance to receive up to £250,000 equity investment from SFC Capital plus a year-long strategic partnership with The Red Tree.

 

Applications open on Monday 4th December 2023 and close on Friday 2nd February 2024.

Stirling Murray, MD of The Red Tree

“We are excited that The Beauty Accelerator™ is returning. The UK beauty industry continues to thrive and is a hotbed of creative entrepreneurs building the beauty brands of the future. Accessing early-stage investment continues to be challenging for brands and the need for The Beauty Accelerator™ is clear. It remains the UK’s only beauty-dedicated early-stage investment vehicle. It is a proven pathway for UK beauty brands to access investment along with the strategic insight to grow. The increased ceiling of SEIS investment to £250,000 means more capital is now available and we expect to receive more applicants than ever before. We are delighted to partner once again with SFC Capital and extend a warm welcome to our new strategic partner, Freeths, a leading full-service law firm experienced in the beauty industry. Together, we are excited to meet brands that are making a game-changing impact in the beauty industry.”

Stephen Page, CEO of SFC Capital

“We are thrilled to join forces with The Red Tree once again to bring a new edition of The Beauty Accelerator™ to life. This initiative has brought together fantastic entrepreneurs in the past, including previous winners Atypical Cosmetics and Fussy, or noteworthy finalist Cutbox, all part SFC Capital’s portfolio, and we are eager to discover the next wave of innovative ideas. The increased SEIS investment threshold, now at £250,000, opens new opportunities for start-ups, providing increased resources to bring their ground breaking ideas to market – and we are excited to extend this opportunity to aspiring beauty brands. The Beauty Accelerator™ transcends mere financial support – it serves as a platform for promising beauty start-ups to thrive, offering strategic guidance to help them become industry leaders.”

The best applicants will be short-listed and invited to attend virtual interviews with The Red Tree in February. The most impressive brands will then be selected to appear in the final on 26th and 27th February, where finalists will pitch to The Red Tree, SFC Capital and Freeths.

Previous finalists have included: Fussy, Faace, Cutbox, Atypical Cosmetics, KANKAN and Glaize.

About The Red Tree

Established in 2010, The Red Tree is the UK’s leading international beauty brand consultancy. We develop and steer your ideas, challenge your thinking, and deliver results. We have an unparalleled global perspective and manage some of the best brands around. The go‑to company for vision, strategy, action, and implementation. We understand the beauty business intimately and reach the heart of a client’s problem quickly. Unique in our approach, insight, and creativity, we deliver solutions that make a difference. An unrivalled breadth of services with deep expertise across all categories of beauty, from mass to super luxury.

 

https://theredtree.co.uk/

info@theredtree.co.uk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-red-tree/

https://www.instagram.com/theredtreetrt/

About SFC Capital

SFC Capital is the UK’s most active seed-stage investor (PitchBook Data 2019-2023). Founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Stephen Page (DataEase, Sapphire), SFC Capital combines an angel syndicate with its own funds to provide investors with diversified exposure to SEIS- and EIS-qualifying businesses. Investors can back the high-potential start-ups directly or through a portfolio curated and managed by the SFC Capital team.

 

Having backed more than 450 start-ups since its inception, SFC Capital has a track record of backing high-growth businesses in parts of the UK where access to early-stage equity capital is often scarce, with notable investments including Vortex IOT (Swansea), Transcend Packaging (Caerphilly), and Petalite (Birmingham). To further support innovation across all UK regions, SFC Capital has partnered with the likes of British Business Investments, which has committed £15 million to date through its Regional Angels Programme to back regional start-ups.

 

To find out more, please visit SFC Capital’s website at https://sfccapital.com/

or email info@sfccapital.com.

About Freeths

Freeths is a top 50 commercial law firm. Relied on by private and public sector clients including Aldi, Tarmac, Experian, and Lloyds Bank – alongside many charities, universities and private businesses.

 

We’re the trusted and well-liked people our clients naturally turn to for legal support and representation. From entrepreneurs, owner-managed businesses and SMEs to major retailers, insurance companies, financial institutions and multi-national construction and engineering companies – all expertly supported by our 1000-strong team in our 13 UK offices: Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield.

 

Milestone achievements:

  • Listed in The Times Best Law Firms, 2023
  • Legal 500 and Chambers legal guides consistently rank our lawyers in their top tiers
  • Ranked 44 in The Lawyer’s Top 100 UK law firms
  • Winner of The Lawyer and Legal Week’s Litigation Team of the Year 2020
  • Ranked 51 in the Social Mobility Employer Index 2020
  • ‘Diversity Champion’ for Stonewall – a charity supporting LGBTQ+ rights

https://www.freeths.co.uk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/freeths-llp/

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