San Francisco, CA (March 2, 2026) ⎯ Starting Monday, March 2, Sephora will accept applications for its 2026 Accelerate Program, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for prestige beauty brands to build, refine, and grow with the power of Sephora as part of its US-led brand incubation program.
Since its inception a decade ago as the first-ever prestige retail incubator for female founders, the Sephora Accelerate Program has helped elevate new and often underrepresented perspectives and voices in the beauty industry. Through this work, Sephora has nurtured up-and-coming brand founders, providing them with the tools, mentorship, and resources they need to grow and succeed in an ever-evolving industry. To date, 41 brands spanning the makeup, skincare, hair care, and fragrance categories have graduated from the program – including EADEM, which will be expanding its footprint in all Sephora stores and had its viral Le Chouchou lip balm break into Sephora’s top 10 lip moisturizers for 2025; Kulfi, now an all-door brand with a top 3 lip stain; and the 2026 Sephora Beauty Grant winner, MAED – with more than half launching with Sephora so far. Coupled with the knowledge earned during Sephora’s storied history of cultivating some of the industry’s biggest brands, Sephora Accelerate is growing the next generation of prestige beauty brands.
As part of its ten–year evolution, Sephora’s industry-leading curriculum has been updated to reflect the ever-changing aspects of a brand’s journey in today’s dynamic business landscape, including new content centered on brand launch fundamentals, scaling at large, and creating a business with a long-term future. Through the Sephora Accelerate program, founders receive game-changing access to industry leaders, beauty brand founders, and Sephora executives, who will share their expertise and guidance on how to build a winning global beauty brand. Additionally, all brands will receive one-to-one support and mentorship based on their specific needs. As a participant and alumni, cohort members will receive materials for retail readiness, as well as other best-in-class resources, and come away with operational expertise and brand strategies that help set them up for long-term success, including the opportunity to launch at Sephora.
“Over the last 10 years, Sephora Accelerate has continuously evolved to help close the gap on the essential inclusion of underrepresented voices across various aspects of the beauty industry. Thinking back on the program’s early days it’s phenomenal to see how our alumni have grown. Such as, one of our early alumni members The 7 Virtues – a ‘socially responsible fragrance’ company who joined Accelerate and later launched with us in 2018 and continues to grow with us globally – or, more recently, Topicals who had one of our best-selling eye masks last year and is an alumni of our 2021 Accelerate cohort. This program has provided our diverse beauty community with some of their favorite holy-grail products, and us to more than triple our assortment of Black-owned brands, but it has also created a legacy of connection and opportunity in beauty not seen elsewhere,” said Priya Venkatesh, Global Chief Merchandising Officer, Sephora.
Finalists will be announced this Summer and persons of all backgrounds are welcome to apply. Eligible applicants are required to be at least 18 years old, have a North American-incorporated company, and be in the early stages of development (i.e., not yet widely distributed by others). In selecting finalists, Sephora also considers each brand’s vision, innovation, and current product development. To learn more and apply, please visit accelerate.sephora.com. Applications close on March 31.
Accelerate brands currently available to shop at Sephora include:
