(Black PR Wire) Glossier’s vision is to change the way the world sees beauty — and we can’t do that without changing the beauty industry itself. Just last year, Black founders raised only 1% of all venture capital funding— a decrease from the 1.3% they raised in 2021. Despite the fact that Black consumers make up over 11% of the US beauty market, spending over $6.6 billion on beauty annually — Black-owned brands only capture 2.4% of revenue in the overall beauty market. We created our Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses with the recognition of this inequity, and with the hope of changing our industry, where there’s been a lasting legacy of exclusion and barriers to access with fundraising, mentorship, and more.

As part of our continued investment in diversity, equity, and inclusion in beauty (and beyond!), we’re thrilled to announce today that we’re launching our third Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses, committing $300,000 towards six visionary businesses in the US. We’re also excited to globalize our efforts: next month, we’ll be launching our first ever Grant Program in the UK, in partnership with Black Girl Fest (sign up for their newsletter for updates on this!).

Since 2020, we’ve been honored and humbled to partner with 30+ founders leading 26 innovative beauty brands, providing them with grant funding and curated curriculums of business programming. With each cohort, we continue to see the value in sharing resources and time. This isn’t just about funding or charity — it’s about solidarity.

Every team in our company has been involved with the Grant Program, whether it’s behind the scenes reviewing applications or leading Office Hours to hosting webinars on relevant topics like Product Development or Influencer Marketing. We’ve kept in touch with alumni to continue supporting them and celebrating their wins — like Range Beauty, Young King, and Luna Magic all appearing on Shark Tank, or Skimdo winning an Allure Best of Beauty Award. Just two weeks ago, we convened some of our alumni in partnership with the Black Beauty Club for a candid conversation about the state of fundraising and capital for Black founders at our SoHo flagship. Of course, the experience of the program and its impact are best understood directly from our grantees:

“I've really enjoyed the program's emphasis on bringing together a strong cohort of founders who are trying out different ideas and exploring different ways to make an impact in the beauty industry overall. There's not only a sense of collaborative camaraderie but also an opportunity for real friendships with people who understand very acutely what you go through day to day and for me, that is always something I appreciate. Additionally, it's been tremendously helpful to have access to Glossier's experts who give helpful, detailed feedback on your work and help you explore your ideas from new perspectives.” - Patrick Boateng, Founder + CEO, Ceylon Skincare

“Hands down, the Glossier Grant Program was one of THE most impactful programs our business has ever participated in! From the capital provided, to the connections with their marketing and community teams, to the resources, time, energy and mentorship invested all the way from Glossier’s C-suite down, the program provided what we needed and then some to help us build and grow Young King. To have a brand as large and impactful as Glossier truly embrace and believe in our mission means the world to us, and we are so incredibly grateful to be on this journey with them.” - Cora Miller, Co-founder + CEO, Young King Hair Care

For this year’s Grant Program, the criteria remains the same. We’ll be reviewing applications on the following three criteria:

- Purpose: The inspiration and purpose behind your business and the impact you hope to achieve both for your customers and the broader community
- Differentiation: What sets your brand and products apart from others in your category
- Business Plan: Your plans for business growth and how Glossier’s Grant Program will help you achieve your goals

We’re looking for six iconic beauty brands with physical beauty products (not service providers, not salons, not spas) who want support and resources, who are available to actively participate in four months of programming. Applications will be open until April 11th at 12:00AM ET, and you can apply here.

Grantees will continue to be paired with a Glossier advisor for mentorship, have access to business programming on more topics, and participate in 1:1 meetings with functional experts across the Glossier team, connect with alumni from previous cohorts, and even receive support from Glossier’s community of partners like Shopify and Google.

Get started here: 

Application

FAQs

Official Terms & Conditions 

We’ve done our best to make the application process as streamlined as possible, and will inform applicants about our decisions in June. We look forward to reviewing each of your applications and hearing your stories!

Source: Glossier