Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and Nykaa recently announced the founding of a program called Beauty&You India, which aims to uncover the upcoming Indian beauty brands. Beauty & You India was developed by ELC’s New Incubation Ventures and launched in collaboration with Nykaa with the goal of assisting founders and innovators in expanding their businesses by defining brand objectives, gaining scale, and curating product portfolios.
BEAUTY&YOU, an Estée Lauder and Nykaa initiative, is a game-changer for the best of reasons. The BEAUTY&YOU program is the first to break the mold by mandating no equity from entrepreneurs while giving them full ownership and unrestricted access to mentorship. In contrast to traditional funding programs, which demand a higher equity stake from smaller brands, this program demands zero equity from startups.
Anchit Nayar, chief executive of beauty at Nykaa, informed that the program will provide winning enterprises with non-equity grants of up to $500,000 (Rs 4 crore).
According to Nayar, the winning company will be chosen after a September 30 application deadline and will be revealed in November. Both pre-launch and in-market premium cosmetics enterprises are eligible to participate. A group of businesses will be chosen for mentoring and incubation each year as part of the program, which the companies want to offer.
Shana Randhava, Vice President of ELC New Incubation Ventures, and Anchit Nayar, CEO of Beauty for NYKAA e-Commerce, will get assistance from a panel of entrepreneurs, industry experts, and thought leaders from the worlds of beauty, fashion, media, and technology for the judging process.
By setting brand goals, accomplishing scale ambitions, and curating product portfolios that appeal to a new set of customers in the Indian market, BEAUTY&YOU seeks to assist founders, innovators, and creators in growing their businesses comprehensively. In order to foster new concepts that highlight Indian voices and bridge gaps in the fields of skincare, makeup, hair care, and fragrance, award recipients will get access to ELC and NYKAA ties and knowledge across the beauty ecosystem.
In addition to the $500,000 prize money, the program will offer award winners masterclasses from eminent international experts, mentorship from experts in a variety of fields, including product and content development, brand building, finance, operations, and supply chain, as well as distribution support that includes access to Nykaa’s extensive omnichannel reach.
Among the business leaders who have contributed to the program are Katrina Kaif, a Bollywood actress and the founder of Kay Beauty, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a well-known designer, and Samarth Bedi, the executive director of luxury cosmetics company Forest Essentials.
Along with amplification on ELC and Nykaa’s platforms, distribution support on how to scale and reach consumers at both a local and global level, and masterclasses on what it takes to build a sustainable beauty brand from top international experts, all incubator recipients will also receive these benefits. The extensive omnichannel reach of Nykaa will also be accessible.
To sum up, here are the resources that will be provided:
Masterclasses: Leading international professionals provide an inside look at what it takes to create legendary, long-lasting beauty brands.
Financial Support: The program’s total prize fund for the most inventive, moving, and ground-breaking ideas are up to INR 4 Cr (about $500,000 USD).
Guidance: Access to mentors with expertise in all facets of the beauty industry, including supply chain management, brand creation, finance, and operations.
Outreach: Amplification of the ELC and NYKAA platforms as well as national and international news coverage for the winners will increase awareness.
Assistance to upscale: Helpful advice on how to scale and connect with consumers locally and globally, as well as the chance to make use of NYKAA’s extensive omnichannel reach, setting the brands up for long-term success.
The initiative shows ELC and NYKAA’s common commitment to positively influence the whole beauty ecosystem as well as their shared ambition to support the growth of the Indian premium beauty market by providing ground-breaking and locally relevant goods, experiences, and business models.
Anchit Nayar, CEO of Beauty for NYKAA e-Commerce adds, “NYKAA’s emergence as a leading consumer technology platform over the past several years is an outcome of an incredibly vibrant digital India that has spurred innovation and created an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is best in class globally. Now it is a chance for us to give back to the ecosystem by fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs in the beauty and lifestyle verticals. BEAUTY&YOU is an opportunity for us to identify and nurture talented founders to build truly unique consumer brands for the Indian consumer, and potentially for the world.”
Shana Randhava, vice president of New Incubation Ventures at The Estée Lauder Companies, says: “Beauty&You is inspired by the core values and collaborative culture that ELC and NYKAA share. We believe we have a responsibility to share our experiences with the next generation of founders and we hope Beauty&You will be a catalyst for Indian entrepreneurs to fuel their passion, brand, and mission.”
Their vision is for Beauty&You to use India’s entrepreneurial spirit to assist next-generation beauty brands to thrive by offering them possibilities for long-term, structural reform.
