Growth Studio is proud to announce Breakout Beauty UK, a transformative accelerator programme designed to glow-up the next generation of UK beauty founders, ready to become global household names.
Powered by a coalition of retail, venture and industry partners, the programme has attracted headline partnership from Boots and the support of the British Beauty Council and early stage venture capital firm Venrex who invested in Charlotte Tilbury.
Over 5 weeks, 10 finalist founders will access top-tier mentorship, funding models, retail partnerships, and award winning business development support, curated and delivered by Growth Studio. All culminating in a high octane pitch day, enabling founders to pitch to investors and secure a prestigious listing with Boots and a wealth of additional marketing and social media support.
The shape of the British beauty sector
With a growing market value of £27bn, the beauty industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in the UK. Driven, creative entrepreneurs from a diversity of backgrounds are launching exciting new products and fresh brand identities, empowered by social media content that’s hyper relevant for today’s consumers.
According to the British Beauty Council’s latest economic report, the UK Beauty industry is a resilient growth sector and contributes more to the UK’s GDP than our creative, arts, entertainment and chemical manufacturing sectors combined.
Further to these findings, the UK has seen the strongest growth in sales across the EU5, making it the front runner in prestige beauty. Whilst all the top 5 European territories saw a growth of 7.6% year-on-year, the UK saw an increase close to 11%. What’s more, the UK saw a growth rate of almost double that of Germany’s and three times that of France. This data spans both unit sales and value.
Sometimes the barriers facing emerging founders in any industry are not just about securing sales growth. We see beauty founders brilliant at product innovation and customer connection but often lacking experience in building a sustainable business, understanding company legalities or expertise about how to curate a compelling narrative for investors and stakeholders.
What’s more we recognise that a vast majority of beauty entrepreneurs are female and yet only 2-3% of overall investment is ever secured by female startups, putting innovation and scale in this sector at a greater disadvantage.
This is where we come in! We recognise there are so many talented UK beauty founders yet to realise their full potential. We also recognise a crucial role we can play in driving forward their success and scale.
Growth Studio is renowned for designing award winning programmes that accelerate startup success in sectors ready for innovation.
Over 10 years, we’ve developed a unique programmatic support system designed to fast forward startup and corporate innovation, collaboration and expert knowledge insights. We’ve worked with clients as diverse as Amazon, Boots, Tesco Innovate UK and the Latvian government.
Our teams work intensely with founders, in many cases we operate as fractional heads of growth within their leadership team. It’s an agile approach that rapidly identifies opportunities, face challenges head on and creates faster solutions. In fact, this bespoke approach has led to the Financial Times naming Growth Studio as No 1 in Europe for startup mentorship.
Why the time is right for Breakout Beauty UK
A new age of beauty brands and consumer demand
The beauty industry in the UK and across the world is undergoing a tremendous transformation. In the UK this is fuelled by a number of factors including striking new innovation delivered by a fast tide of incoming British entrepreneurs and the power of social media platforms.
Founders with a new product and a compelling personal back story, supercharge their success with an ability to crush social media sales and marketing, using platforms such as Tiktok Shop and Instagram.
In this new beauty business age, founders are also benefiting from brand new beauty first retail stores and strategies from major retailers such as Boots and Sephora.
Add to this energised economic climate is Boots Ignite, their own in-house endeavour dedicated to seeking out and securing first to market listing and positions for standout startups creating the biggest buzz.
Beauty talent is made in the UK
Our unique British beauty environment has propelled the success of fast emerging social media entrepreneurs including Mitchell Halliday, the 26 year old behind Made by Mitchell and Laura Mallows, the founder of Mallows Beauty.
Mitchell Halliday reportedly earned $1m TikTop Shop sales in 12 hours and Laura is attracting massive mainstream media attention, currently hailed as a ‘TikTok Shop sensation’.
Their content creation and ability to build a significant social following is as powerful as their product range. Both have crafted a unique brand, products and personal stories through TikTok Shop, subsequently driving greater growth and securing Boots as a powerful retail partner.
For budding beauty entrepreneurs, these two beauty leaders are living proof that building all the digital tools are available to launch a beauty brand. However the challenges still exist in knowing how to raise capital, how to scale and how to sustain success.
A bountiful beauty retail landscape
Fast emerging beauty brands are operating in a rapidly evolving and buoyant bricks and mortar retail landscape.
According to McKinsey, global sales at specialty beauty retailers—those that cater specifically to beauty consumers grew 14 percent in 2023 (North American and European specialty beauty retailers in particular propelled this growth).
The 2025 Boots Beauty Trends Report shows that whilst social media platforms remain popular for product discovery,, 94% of beauty consumers prefer shopping in-store for cosmetics.
From Charlotte Tilbury’s new beauty concept stores in London & Stockholm to Boots’ exclusive beauty flagship destination at Battersea Power Station and Sephora’s multiple store openings across the UK, physical beauty store openings are back on the rise.
However far from being another cut and paste beauty retail outlet, these concept stores are about creating immersive brand experiences. This includes personal consultations, interactive displays, sampling and try before you buy zones, enabling customers to enjoy a memorable journey beyond buying products.
Why the time is right now?
The British beauty scene has never been more exhilarating and we believe our Breakout Beauty UK programme will help make the next generation of incredible UK beauty entrepreneurs, ready to take on the world.
Breakout Beauty UK opens for applications in August and runs until a Grande Finale pitch day in December 2025. Beauty participants can apply from a wide range of categories including make up, hair, skin, nails and fragrance.
We are seeking market ready beauty businesses with a minimum turnover of £150k and our selection panel of industry experts and well known beauty brand entrepreneurs will actively encourage a wide diversity of participants.
