Beyoncé Funded Cécred Herself Because Investors 'Didn't Like' Research Budget, Tina Knowles Says

Going the self-funding route wasn't the original plan, but Beyoncé insisted on protecting the brand's research and development budget.

October 29, 2026

Beyoncé, in a patterned dress, waves beside her mother, Tina Knowles, in a black outfit at an event. — Image via Getty/Matt Winkelmeyer/GA/The Hollywood Reporter

From the beginning, Beyoncé has put an emphasis on the importance of “scientific innovation” in the continued growth of her haircare line, Cécred.

The 35-time Grammy winner said as much when first launching the brand back in 2024, noting that the path toward a global launch had been a years-long endeavor.

“As a Black founder, it was important to me to concentrate on where I saw the greatest need for healthy haircare and to place scientific innovation and product performance above all else,” she said at the time. “We started by prioritizing the needs of textured hair like mine, along with other types and textures that need more moisture and strength.”

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The vision, per the Cowboy Carter artist, was for Cécred to stand as “an inclusive force of excellence in the haircare industry,”

Fast forward to 2026, and Cécred has earned that distinction, though doing so required an immense amount of self-belief, as Tina Knowles explained in a recent interview conducted at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.

Unlike other brands in this vein, Cécred came into being without the infusion of outside funding. But as Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother, detailed in her Fortune chat, this wasn’t the original plan.

“We didn’t wanna structure it that way,” she said. “We talked to investors in the early stages, but when it got down to them looking at our budgets, the largest part of our budget goes into research and development and testing. The investors just didn’t like that. They wanted us to put more money into marketing and less into the product.”

This inspired Beyoncé to go a different route, all in the name of ensuring that research and development remained central to the operation.

“We just decided, she decided, ‘I’m just gonna fund it myself,’ which is crazy expensive,” Knowles, who serves as vice chairwoman for Cécred, said. “I was like, ‘Do you know what you’re getting into?’ And she said, ‘Yes, because I don’t want anybody telling me that I can’t put the money into research and development.’”

This insistence has paid off, with Beyoncé recently joking about the brand’s appeal to people who “can’t stand” her music in a separate interview with i-D.