Tesco has launched a new Accelerator Programme providing support to innovative brands across the UK.

The supermarket giant welcomed 27 up-and-coming brands including Nala’s Baby, Grind Coffee, Love Raw and The Gym Kitchen to its Welwyn Garden City campus today (28 February) to kick off the initiative which has replaced its incubator scheme.

Within the programme, suppliers will have the opportunity to be stocked in Tesco stores and online to accelerate growth.

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The brands have been carefully selected to feed into emerging product trends, including health and sustainability, the demand for specialty products that cater to the communities the grocer operates in, as well as values-driven brands which actively give back to their communities.

Tesco has set up a new dedicated innovation buying team to directly support the brands, which will be able to access a comprehensive year-long programme of mentoring, learning and development with a focus on growth.

Chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad said: “Our customers love to try innovative new products, whether that’s a speciality product they can’t get anywhere else, or a brand that has sustainability at its heart, so it’s a real pleasure to launch this expanded programme, helping to support the development and growth of exciting brands at Tesco.

“We’re really looking forward to working with these brands and the brilliant teams behind them, and I wish each of them great success.”