Sephora launches prize for incubation for ‘most promising’ beauty brands across Europe

LVMH-owned beauty retailer Sephora is launching its first-ever Sephora Prize, a strategic initiative designed to discover and scale the most promising beauty brands across Europe.

The Sephora Prize will provide the winning brand with “unparalleled support” for three years, specifically designed to accelerate its development.

That will include dedicated research and development guidance, expert mentoring sessions and extensive visibility sponsorship across all touchpoints.

Additionally, the incubated brand will benefit from an exclusive launch across Europe, coupled with unrivalled promotion through Sephora’s ‘The Next Big Thing’ campaign.

As well as the main winner, and depending on the applications received, Sephora would like to establish a second and third prize.

Such distinctions would honour brands that have captured strong interest through their innovation and potential. Beyond that recognition, Sephora would provide a support to those promising brands for one year, offering them significant visibility across Sephora platforms, including digital channels, customer relationship management, social media and mentorship focused on market trends and strategic guidance.

Catherine Spindler, President of Sephora Europe and Middle East, said: “At Sephora, we have always been passionate about discovering and nurturing the brands that will define the future of beauty. Europe is a very rich, creative and demanding market, fuelled with many talents and promising emerging brands, which sometimes face challenges in scaling up.

“With our European Sephora Prize, we are taking our commitment further in investing in Europe’s uniquely diverse and innovative beauty ecosystem, supporting a new generation of founders and helping them scale their vision with the strength of Sephora’s expertise, platform and community.”

Open to brands founded across Europe (specifically those in the EEA, UK, Turkey, Switzerland, Serbia and Monaco) and all beauty categories, the competition will focus on brand founders with a strong vision for beauty, a clear capacity for innovation and “proven product excellence”.

An internal Sephora jury will seek brands with a distinctive point of view on beauty, an authentic story driven by visionary founders, and a brand that will resonate with Sephora beauty fans. The first winner of the Sephora Prize will be unveiled in the coming months.

Applications officially opened on 9 June and will be accepted for a duration of almost four weeks. All information is available on the Sephora website landing page, allowing any brand meeting Sephora's criteria to apply.

On Monday, Sephora announced it is gearing to open a new store at Edinburgh’s St James Quarter on 9 July, followed by a new store at Glasgow’s Silverburn Shopping Centre on 13 August. The brand’s first foray into Scotland comes three years after it opened its first UK store in London.

In May, Sephora UK also announced a mentorship and grant initiative in partnership with the British Beauty Council and UNiDAYS, aiming to bridge the gap between education and the beauty industry.