Apply for Black Girl Ventures’ pitch competition for beauty brands by Oct. 16

Cool opportunity alert: Black Girl Ventures is hosting a pitch event for beauty industry startups.

Hera Hub DC-based BGV is an event series that’s part pitch competition and part crowdfunding campaign for Black and brown women entrepreneurs. The organization is partnering with Massachusetts’ Rare Beauty Brands, a company that acquires and incubates indie beauty companies, to host this special edition of its pitch competition.

Founders are encouraged to apply by Oct. 16 to participate. BGV hasn’t yet shared further details on the logistics of the pitch event, but it will take place virtually.

Founders selected to participate will have three minutes to pitch and a two-minute Q&A session with the audience. First, second and third-place winners will be selected based on audience votes, while viewers can also donate funds to the startups of their choice using the BGV’s SheRaise crowdfunding platform. Winners are based solely on votes, and not on how much capital is raised during the event.

Rare Beauty Brands will sponsor a cash prize for the top three companies, while all three winners will also receive:

• A free accountant consultation for each business’ brand
• Free business coaching
• $3,000 in Google Cloud credits
• 50% off a graphic design product by Penji
• 90% off HubSpot and access to training discounts

All participating founders will join BGV’s alumni network and gain access to the organization resources and exclusive updates.

This pitch event comes after BGV hosted its 2020 pitch competition for its D.C. chapter last month. Below is a recap video of the pitches from these seven founders:

• Tanishia Jones — Sweet Teas Skin Care For Your 7th Day
• Chichi Okunji — Reproductive Justice & M(E)D
• Ehime Eigbe — SweetKiwi
• Kendra Woolridge — Janet & Jo.
• Fallon Keplinger — Rose Glow Tea Room
• Nicole Breland Aandahl — Healthy Nail Project Co.
• Sasha-Loriene McClain — Black Girls Who Paint