Sephora Names 12 Brands to 2026 Accelerate Cohort as Program Hits 10-Year Mark

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7.29.2026

Quick Facts

Sephora selected 12 brands for its 2026 Accelerate cohort, spanning skincare, hair care, makeup, and fragrance.
The program is in its tenth year; 41 brands have graduated to date, with more than half launching with Sephora.
Cohort members gain access to a six-month curriculum and can apply for the $100,000 Sephora Beauty Grant.

Sephora North America named 12 emerging beauty brands to its 2026 Accelerate program on July 21, selecting founders from a competitive pool of Spring 2026 North American applicants. The announcement marks the program’s tenth year running.

The selected brands are Forta Cosmetics, Dealbodies, Mowe Beauty, Base-K, Pepper Pout, Reference, Omora Beauty Lab, Everyday Chemist, More, Eauso Vert, Manuscript, and Innae Beauty. Sephora chose them based on product development phase, innovation, and overall vision.

Several brands bring distinct angles to the prestige market. Forta Cosmetics is co-founded by WNBA player Lexie Hull and targets active women with sweat-resistant performance cosmetics. Manuscript focuses on scalp aging with a once-daily hair longevity serum priced at under $1 per day. Eauso Vert is a female and Latin-owned fine fragrance brand. Base-K draws from Korean head spa tradition to build a scalp-first hair care ritual.

Priya Venkatesh, Global Chief Merchandising Officer at Sephora, said the program continues to surface strong early-stage founders. “Every year we’re introduced to a volume of talented, emerging founders with strong visions, differentiated products, and fresh perspectives that will shape the future of beauty,” she said.

The 2026 cohort will go through a redesigned six-month curriculum built around three phases: establishing a new brand, scaling the business, and building a sustainable long-term future. Participants receive one-on-one mentorship from Sephora executives, experienced founders, and industry experts, along with merchandising support and investor connections.

Cohort members also gain access to the Sephora Impact Summit and can apply for the $100,000 Sephora Beauty Grant, awarded in partnership with the Fifteen Percent Pledge.

The program’s track record gives the grant real weight. Since Sephora pivoted Accelerate in 2021 to focus on founders of color, 33 brands have completed the program. More than half of the brands from the 2021 through 2023 cohorts are now available at Sephora. Past graduates include EADEM, whose Le Chouchou lip balm ranked in Sephora’s top 10 lip moisturizers for 2025, and Kulfi, now an all-door brand with a top 3 lip stain. The 2026 Sephora Beauty Grant went to MAED.

Venkatesh said the program has spent a decade working to close inclusion gaps in the beauty industry. “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,” she said.

For early-stage founders in hair care, skincare, and fragrance, the Accelerate program remains one of the clearest structured paths into prestige retail. With more than half of all graduates now selling at Sephora, the conversion rate from cohort to shelf is a concrete signal for founders weighing where to invest their time.