Launched this month and open for applications, the accelerator programme would select a cohort of founders running businesses with £150,000+ turnovers to take through its mentorship curriculum covering brand, retail, finance and business insights from an array of industry experts, including Trinny Woodall, founder of Trinny London, and Mitchell Halliday, founder of Made by Mitchell.
Spearheaded by start-up accelerator Growth Studio, early-stage venture capital firm Venrex and trade organisation British Beauty Council, Breakout Beauty UK had been designed to propel high-potential businesses into retail-ready status. And with Boots UK and TikTok Shop also headline partners, two winning brands would receive a 12-month Boots UK listing and discounted TikTok Shop platform fees and advertising support, alongside the programme’s £350,000 prize money.
“These are business-changing, life-changing exclusive prizes,” Paul Finch, co-founder of Growth Studio, told Premium Beauty News.
The calibre of industry partners set to mentor and guide the cohort of founders, Finch said, was also extremely high, making this accelerator programme a real standout for industry. “It’s a really powerful avenger-esque dynamic of partners,” he said. “...We’ve got the capacity for brands to become that next monster UK beauty brand.”
“So much creativity in the UK”
Emily Caine, head of beauty at TikTok Shop UK, said the accelerator was certainly well set up to “supercharge” growth for selected brands.
“Our team of beauty experts at Tiktok Shop will provide one-to-one mentorship to the winning cohort of brands to scale their businesses with discovery commerce,” Caine explained – helping founders navigate social commerce content and creator partnerships to drastically improve visibility and build online communities. And this side of growth, she said, was increasingly important in today’s beauty market as more and more consumers were discovering and shopping via social media.
Millie Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, said the timing of Breakout Beauty UK was also important. According to the association’s The Value of Beauty 2025 report, the UK beauty industry was today valued at £30bn and growing four times faster than the wider UK economy – up 9% in 2024 versus 2023. And this, Kendall said, provided a great backdrop for further brand growth to keep that “momentum up”.
“We have so much creativity in the UK. I see, on a daily basis, amazing brands but they’re not necessarily ready for investment,” she explained. “...There are a huge amount of founder-led brands that are under the million-pound turnover mark, and I think those brands are where we really need to look to – to help those founders develop their brand.”
And whilst UK beauty was arguably more competitive than it had ever been, Kendall said retail was increasingly dynamic, making it an interesting time to grow a beauty brand. “There’s a very exciting retail environment, both offline and online–probably the most exciting I’ve seen in years–and I think it’s sort of hotting up, with companies like Ulta buying Space NK, etc.”
The CEO said Breakout Beauty UK offered indie brands a fantastic way into beauty retail, providing founders with the tools and “mechanisms to help them grow”.
Caine agreed: “The beauty industry is thriving, but it’s often hard for small, founder-led businesses to cut through and be discovered. That’s why this accelerator programme is so important. It gives small businesses expert support and guidance to find success in a bustling industry.”
Flexibility and curiosity – the successful founder mindset
Asked what the teams would be looking for during the application process, Kendall said the most important founder mindset was flexibility. “To be able to take constructive criticism and adapt is really important,” she said. “...Having a founder that can really listen is important.”
Finch agreed: “The most successful founders we work with are the ones that know their blind spots or know the things that they don’t know. And that often comes with the founders that have a bit more indsutry experience or are a bit older. We’re looking for people that have resilience.”
Curiosity was another major plus, he said, as was fantastic storytelling – key characteristics and skills behind most successful founders.
Kendall said it would be exciting to see what profiles came through the application process over the coming weeks, especially the brands and founders that had “gone that little bit further – beyond a cute bottle and a good name”.
Breakout Beauty UK applications were open until September 19, 2025 with the accelerator programme kickstarting on October 27, 2025 and final pitches scheduled for early December.
