Stories about investment

At True, we pride ourselves on being specialist investors in the Consumer and Retail sectors. Many associate "Consumer" with D2C physical products, but the reality is much broader. In this blog, Mike Martin, Director in the VC team shares more on our investment strategy and remit.

Major sporting heroes are increasingly investing in food and drink brands, giving these products star power and health credibility. Joe Seager-Dupuy, Director of VC Investment at True, shares insights in The Grocer's recent article on how brands can cut through the noise and stand out by leveraging the influence of famous athletes. Learn how these high-profile deals begin and the impact they can have on your brand.

Ribble has named Sean Hastings as its new CEO. Hastings, a veteran in consumer sector transformation, brings a wealth of experience from B2C Group, River Island, and Pentland Brands. This strategic move follows the recent appointment of Becks DeNiro as chair. Current CEO Andy Smallwood will transition to a senior adviser role, ensuring a smooth leadership change.

RIBBLE REBELLION electrified at the US Armed Forces Cycling Classic this past weekend with extraordinary bikes that pay tribute to the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Cole Davis (USA) was on the striking Ribble Ultra SL R P-51 Mustang Special Edition, and British rider Matthew Bostock was on the Ultra SL R Forces Special Edition. The bikes, inspired by WWII aircraft, were then auctioned to support TAPS, a charity aiding military families.

At True, we understand the challenges of securing that first crucial call with investors. In this article, we dive into the essentials of crafting a standout pitch deck. Learn how to align with our investment thesis, articulate your market opportunity, highlight your team's strengths, and more.

The Ribble Collective continues into 2024 following a very successful first season, now with a wider reach including riders covering Road, Gravel & Triathlon disciplines.

As part of the quick founder questions series – or QFQs – Maddyness spoke to Jean-Michel Chalayer, founder of Jena about recent investment, backing solopreneurs and the importance of flex culture!

Ribble partner with HUUB to launch RIBBLE REBELLION Race Kit at Redlands.

JENA, a UK SaaS platform that enables solopreneurs to run their businesses smoothly instead of piecing together disjointed tools, secures £1.2 million in an oversubscribed Pre-Seed funding round led by True & Gfund.

This year so far, we’ve been spending more time in major European tech and start-up hubs including Berlin, Paris and Barcelona, with the Nordics to come in Q2, meeting with other VCs and founders with a view to increasing our investments in European markets.

RIBBLE REBELLION is the all-new racing team founded by Ribble Cycles, with the primary focus of disrupting the global Crit circuit.

Retail Gazette's Aoife Morgan sits down with The Cotswold Company's CEO, Ralph Tucker, to discuss his take on throwaway furniture, its value push and 2024 growth plans for the business.

A new launch from Bleach promises to rebrand the permanent colour aisle.

Soulfresh will be ‘murdering thirst’ in 2024, launching global mega-brand Liquid Death in Australia and New Zealand.

E-commerce investor and former Gymshark Chairman, Paul Richardson, has been appointed President for fit-tech start-up Brawn, the world’s first, connected community strength training platform.

Specialist investing appears to be gaining momentum. Atomico’s State of European Tech report 2022 showed roughly 40% of VC funds (and roughly 45% of Pre-Seed and Seed funds) were planning to increase their specialism in investment focus going forwards, second only to growing their networks. Joe Seager-Dupuy, Investment Director at True, explores why Specialist strategies will thrive in uncertain markets, with a focus on the VC strategy he leads alongside Mike Martin.

The Cotswold Company enjoyed a bumper Christmas, with the nine weeks to 31st December seeing net orders surge 13% to £16.4m, up £1.8m on the same period last year and 64% on pre-Covid results. Take a look at their winning formula and their plans for 2024.

Milano Vice secures funding to expand its business and scale its operations both within Germany and internationally.

Funding infusion accelerates commercial deployments and SeeChange's vision for a smarter, safer retail future.

Following our recent event, there was a lot of interest around how our portfolio company, Sneak, had built such an engaged community. Our Head of Marketing, Danielle Le Toullec, sat down with Lauren Carroll, Head of Comms at Sneak to delve deeper into their community development and growth off the back of one of the brand’s biggest ever campaigns. The Halloween-themed drop - Satanic Cult - drove enormous community engagement, leading to a UK sellout in just 18 hours & global sellout in 1 week.

You may have noticed Hush has changed a little this month – a new logo, new look and an exciting new collection. Our Head of Marketing, Danielle Le Toullec caught up with Hush's Chief Creative Officer, Melissa Dick to discuss the brand refresh and her inspiration for the new collection, ‘A Moment in Hush’.

Ahead of the UCI Gravel World Championships in October in Veneto, Ribble, launches its new Stone Collection Gravel Bikes which will debut at the competition by four Ribble Collective Riders. One of these riders is Maddy Nutt who shares her journey from working in finance to the podiuming at the Earth Series and being selected for team GB for the Gravel Worlds.

Jitty, backed by former Deliveroo employees, aims to revolutionize home buying with its comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools. True invests in Jitty out of its VC fund.

We are pleased to announce our strategic investment in Apparel Brands Limited (ABL), a UK-headquartered business specialising in the sourcing, design and distribution of Branded apparel and accessories to third parties and through its network of directly operated websites, as well as the licensing and development of branded apparel through its intellectual property portfolio.

Our VC team have been immersed in the vibrant European start-up and VC ecosystem, attending three major conferences over the past couple of weeks. While Mike represented us at SuperVenture in Berlin, Joe and Michanne were actively involved in London Tech Week (LTW) and VivaTech in Paris.