Range Beauty, a member of Sephora Accelerate’s 2023 class, is launching online at the beauty specialty retailer on Dec. 30, with hopes of rolling out to stores next year.
The clean makeup brand’s products that will be available on Sephora’s website include $33 True Intentions Hydrating Foundation in 21 shades, $22 Smooth Out Setting Powder in four shades, $28 True Intensions Hydrating Primer and $30 Bali Face and Body Glow Serum. In tandem with arriving at the chain, Range Beauty, which projects its sales will increase 20% next year, is unveiling a new photo and video campaign that showcases its various shades to help shoppers find the right shades for them.
Alicia Scott, founder and CEO of 6-year-old Range Beauty, started discussions with Sephora in 2020, but was told the brand wasn’t ready to enter its assortment yet. In the years since, it appeared on “Shark Tank,” received a $100,000 Glossier grant, was featured by the brand Hanifa at New York Fashion Week and collaborated with other Black-owner brands like Issa Rae’s Sienna Naturals. With the traction it gained, Sephora felt it was ready.
Sephora is Range Beauty’s only retail partnership currently, but it’s not its first. The brand entered Target in 2020 and withdrew from the big-box retailer in 2021. “Even though we had success on their dot-com, we sold out of products, I just did not see our story being accurately told within their aisle,” says Scott. “I knew that I wanted to make a pivot and really set my sights and focus on what does it look like to be a brand, yes, successful in our own right, but also to be successful at a huge global retailer like Sephora.”
During Sephora’s six-month Accelerate program, it was impressed upon Scott that the retailer understands the hurdles small brands face trying to succeed in a large retail operation. In addition to Range Beauty, brands in the 2023 class were Moodeaux, Oui the People, Brown Girl Jane, Of Other Worlds, Seaspire Skincare and Glosshood. Oui the People and Brown Girl Jane are sold at Sephora. Last week, the retailer announced the 2024 class with 4AM, Ruhveda, The Steam Bar, The Potion Studio, OliviaUmma, Tonal Cosmetics, Influxious and Bounce Curl.
Scott recounts, “They repeated, ‘Listen, we know that you guys are indie founders, we know that a lot of times it’s a one-woman show, a lot of times you are having to be scrappy, making a dollar stretch in a ways that other brands don’t have to, and we want you to know that we’re giving you grace here, and we don’t expect you to come and knock it out the park. We want to truly help you build so that you really find a home with us and want to continue.'”
Sephora’s understanding and patience has been critical for Range Beauty, which Scott says had to delay its entrance in the retailer due to a venture capital firm backing out of its investment in the brand last minute. It was originally supposed to make its debut at the retailer in October. Scott relays that the VC firm informed her the reason for its decision to back out was Range Beauty wasn’t advancing as fast as another brand in its portfolio that launched at Sephora.
“When I looked at the brand, I’m like, OK, they’ve raised $6 million already, how would I be on track with them?” says Scott, adding, “Unfortunately, the goalpost for us continues to get moved, and we’ve had to be creative. Thankfully, brands like Glossier and these grant funds that exist are still here to keep us afloat.”
Range Beauty’s Glossier grant, announced in September this year, enabled it to make Sephora happen. Previously, the brand secured $200,000 from the venture capital firm Fearless Fund in 2021. On “Shark Tank” in 2022, Emma Grede, CEO of Good American, pledged to invest $150,000 in Range Beauty in exchange for 20% equity.
“Between last year and this year, we as Black women founders have truly felt the decline in VCs wanting to invest in us,” says Scott. “They truly see us as a risk, and…no matter the amount of traction you’ve had, whether you’re profitable, what retailer partnerships you have, what your customer list looks like, what you’ve been able to accomplish with very little, to know that you’re seen as a risk simply because you are a Black woman founder is infuriating. and it hits hard.”
Amid the funding retreat, Scott has witnessed Black-owned brands shutter due to lack of capital. Range Beauty was nearly one of them. After selling out during the holiday rush last year, it was out of stock for a majority of the month.
“After a touch-and-go 2023 leading into 2024, I’m happy to still have our doors open and this exciting new partnership,” says Scott. “The sayings I’ve heard from investors and founders like, ‘Survive until 2025,’ are very much true. I’m excited to see the growth that comes next year, and this Sephora partnership will expose us to millions of new beauty enthusiasts.”
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