Los Angeles-based Volition Beauty was created in 2016 to give a voice to female entrepreneurs with unique beauty ideas who either needed help knowing where to start to get their idea off the ground or had hit a wall pitching to predominantly male-led businesses or investment groups.
The creator-lead prestige beauty platform has now launched an accelerator to empower entrepreneurial creators looking to break into the increasingly competitive beauty industry at a time when early-stage investors have pulled back. The accelerator will allow creators to develop products using Volition’s full suite of back-end and front-end services, ranging from product development to digital advertising.
“I’m delighted to initiate this accelerator alongside the launch of Creator Brands. This is a first-of-its-kind beauty ecosystem in which we first validate traction with content creators with a Volition Beauty product, then open up the enormous potential for investment, potentially birthing the next big beauty powerhouse in the process,” says Patricia Santos, CEO and founder of Volition Beauty.
Creator Brands is a creative service and white-label manufacturing division of Volition, enabling content creators to launch their own beauty and wellness products efficiently and quickly. The division offers a full range of product ideation and analysis, comprehensive product development service with top domestic contract laboratories, packaging sourcing and design, complete manufacturing from small batches to large scale, coaching for retail presentations, and inventory management.
Santos continues, “I believe this partnership can revolutionize the way in which content creators and brands work together as we set out to turn the most compelling new beauty ideas into profitable success stories.”
Volition was founded to provide beauty customers with an assortment of innovative products developed by entrepreneurial creators as authentic extensions of their personal brand. The accelerator embodies that vision as it lowers the bar of entry to the beauty industry and gives nascent beauty entrepreneurs a platform that offers funding and expertise as they build the next great beauty brands.
The accelerator program will happen in two phases, beginning with the selection of creators that will receive funding and services to launch their product concept under the Volition Beauty branded assortment. Each will receive an upfront cash guarantee and commission on every product sold.
The second phase will bring the creators of the most successful Volition product launches from the first phase to attend a workshop in New York City with the Volition Creator Brands team, hosted by Emil Capital Partners, one of Volition’s investors.
The workshop will allow participants to learn and discuss firsthand with experts how to build a brand, fundraise with investors, create innovative concepts and products, and pitch a brand to retailers. The day will culminate in the opportunity to present their brand concept for further funding and development within Creator Brands. The final selection will be decided by the Creator Brands leadership team with involvement from existing Volition Beauty investors Emil Capital Partners and Unilever Ventures. Entrepreneurs who reach this phase will receive up to $50,000 in upfront cash, with all services and investments across both phases totaling $400,000 or more.
"Patricia and the entire Volition Beauty team have demonstrated exceptional agility, resilience, and business acumen within the dynamic and highly competitive beauty industry. The Emil Capital Partners team is excited about supporting the launch of Creator Brands and collaborating with the chosen entrepreneurs," says Cansu Arslan, board member at Volition Beauty and investment professional at Emil Capital Partners. "These entrepreneurs will collaborate with a best-in-class team of beauty experts to harness Volition's proven process for introducing effective and differentiated products to the market—products that each creator can confidently and proudly share with their communities."
Applicants must be a US resident, age 18 or over, and have a minimum of 500,000 followers on social media (aggregate across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube) with highly engaged audiences. The deadline for applications is January 31st, 2024.
