Sephora reveals up-and-coming beauty start-ups set to take on the industry

The "Sephora Accelerate Cohort" will mentor a handful of female-driven beauty start-ups. (Subbotina Anna /shutterstock.com)

Sephora has revealed the female-driven beauty start-ups taking part in its first-ever "Sephora Accelerate Cohort."

The program is part of the company's "Sephora Stands" initiative to help the female-founded start-ups that are shaping the future of beauty. It was launched in response to the statistic that 85 per cent of venture capital funded start-ups are led exclusively by men.

The cosmetics giant has chosen eight start-ups from the US, Canada and Mexico to benefit from an extensive mentoring program.

The chosen brands include Myavana, a data-driven social platform that offers personalized hair analysis, consultations and product recommendations, and Stylerz, which helps users to discover top beauty salons, spas, barbers and independent professionals in Mexico and book appointments via smartphone. Then there is Glossgenius, a digital personal assistant for independent beauticians that helps them manage and grow their businesses through proactive client engagement and marketing tools.

Social impact was high on the list of entry criteria for the program, and has resulted in brands such as Thrive Causemetics, which creates vegan and luxury cosmetics and donates one beauty product to a woman going through cancer treatment for every product bought. Another ethically driven start-up is Laxmi, a luxury skincare brand crafted from pure, rare and effective botanicals that provides work for women around the world in an attempt to fight global poverty. Likewise Eu'Genia Shea, whose products contain at least 95 percent pure shea butter, aims to empower women and their families in Ghana.

Meanwhile, sustainable ingredients were a priority for Sahajan, which creates ayurvedic-inspired, organic skincare that combines the ancient traditions of Ayurveda with modern science; and One Love Organics, which creates certified organic and environmentally friendly skincare and is one of only a small number of ECOCERT licensed manufacturers for natural and organic cosmetics in the US.

Each of the business founders will attend a bootcamp in April designed to develop, teach and refine the necessary skills to run and build their businesses with the help of an expert panel including Pamela Baxter, President and CEO LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics for North America and CEO of Christian Dior Inc.