The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is investing in India’s beauty scene with the second edition of its Beauty & You incubator awards.
The awards, created in partnership with Indian retailer Nykaa, aim to spotlight Indian beauty brands and creators, with the winners receiving up to 4 crore (US$500,000) in investment to grow their businesses.
For its second year, ELC and Nykaa have extended the scope of the awards with two new categories that will open entries to include scientists, photographers and filmmakers working in the industry as well as beauty brands.
The awards include Imagine, which will support pre-launch beauty concepts, and Grow, for start-ups that are already on the market.
New for 2023 is the Breakthrough award, which will celebrate innovation in active ingredients that address specific issues for Indian consumers.
The Create award, meanwhile, aims to spotlight creative talent including photographers and filmmakers, who are invited to submit entries celebrating the theme of experiential beauty in India.
There will also be awards for brands demonstrating the most community support and the most innovative corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
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India’s beauty and personal care market is estimated to be worth $16.8bn, according to ELC’s Decoding the India Beauty Landscape report, which it released alongside the awards.
“With a higher degree of consumer awareness than ever and an influx of options unlike anything that the market has seen, India represents an exciting opportunity for the global beauty ecosystem,” said Shana Randhava, Senior Vice President, New Incubation Ventures at ELC.
“Building on the success of last year’s programme, we expanded the scope and scale by increasing the award categories to invite a broader group of founders, creators and innovators to join us.”
Bahut Beauty, Skinvest and Yaan Man were named the winners of the first Beauty & You awards last November, receiving mentorship and access to distribution as well as financial investment.
Entries are open until 5 August via beautyandyouawards.com.