The Craftory

The Craftory is a British-American venture capital fund headquartered in Piccadilly, London, and also based in San Francisco. Launched in early 2018 by Ernesto Schmitt and Elio Leoni Sceti as an alternative to traditional venture capital, it focuses on cause-driven investment in the consumer goods sector, investing in companies that positively impact the categories they serve. As of 2022, The Craftory has more than $600 million in permanent, early stage and growth capital (Series A, Series B etc.) to back 'challenger brands'. The company is the first UK based B Corp fund, and in 2020 Forbes characterised the company as investing in companies 'disrupting the planet for good'.

The Craftory, Limited
TypeLimited liability company
IndustryVC fund
FoundedMarch 2018 (2018-03)
Founders
Headquarters
Piccadilly, London
,
United Kingdom
Number of locations
2 offices (2022)
ProductsVenture capital, Investments
Websitewww.thecraftory.io

History

The Craftory was founded in 2018 by Elio Leoni Sceti, who was formerly head of the Iglo Group and music publisher EMI, and Ernesto Schmitt – a serial entrepreneur (Beamly, DriveTribe, Fabula AI).[1][2][3]

The Craftory's initial focus was specifically investing in new, digitally-activated consumer goods brands.[4][5] It aimed to remove traditional advertising, instead utilising brand storytelling and digital marketing as a means for brand growth.[6]

In 2018, early investors in The Craftory included Spice Private Equity & GP Investments, who invested $60 million in May 2018.[7][8][9][10] The remainder of the early capital coming from private wealth.[11]

Focus

The current fund size is $600 million in permanent capital, and only invests in ‘Challenger Brands’.[12] These are primarily backed at early and growth stage (Series A, Series B etc.)[13]

The fund actively invests in up to 10 challenger brands with annual revenues of more than $10m, in various consumer sectors including beauty, health, food, household and personal care.[14]

The Craftory has made several investments to date, including $18 million into now unicorn NotCo, the Chilean plant based food company.[15][16] $18 million into gender neutral underwear apparel TomboyX.[17][18] $16 million into sustainable detergent pod maker Dropps.[19][20] $20 million into Present Life.[21] $20 million into sustainable diaper brand Dyper and $22 million into natural dog-food brand Edgard & Cooper.[22][23]

People

The Craftory was founded in 2018 by Ernesto Schmitt and Elio Leoni Sceti.

The fund's board includes Belgian financier and hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange, and the Brazilian Chairman of GP Investments, Fersen Lambranho.

The founding team included senior partner Thiago Rodrigues, who was former Managing Director of GP Investments.

In 2018, Jon Lunetta joined as US Craft Partner. Other Craft Partners include Jamie Swango, formerly CMO at Deliveroo, Jonathan Miller, JP Thurlow (published in Elle and Vogue), Simon David Miller (BAFTA nominated filmmaker) and Atkins Dondo.

References
  1. "Will new man on the bridge Elio Leoni Sceti bring back Captain Birdseye?". Evening Standard. 7 June 2013.
  2. Tom, HUDDLESTON JR. (23 June 2015). "This guy is getting paid $1.8 million NOT to be a CEO". Fortune.
  3. "DriveTribe co-founders Richard Hammond and Ernesto Schmitt talk dating, driverless cars and excluding Jeremy Clarkson from music ventures". City A.M. 2017-02-13.
  4. Aziz, Afdhel (11 November 2020). "How 'Cause Capital' VC Fund Craftory Is Investing In Companies Disrupting The Planet For Good". Forbes.
  5. "The post-Covid consumer: is back-to-basics shopping here to stay?". Financial Times. 31 October 2020.
  6. Handley, Lucy (29 October 2019). "Grocery stores are no longer the future for some consumer goods brands, says new VC founder". CNBC.
  7. Alves, Jose Luis (11 May 2018). "GP Investments investe US$ 60 mi em empresa de marcas de consumo". Exame/Reuters. Retrieved 23 August 2018. São Paulo – O grupo de private equity GP Investments anunciou nesta sexta-feira que sua subsidiária Spice Private Equity assinou um contrato para investir até 60 milhões de dólares na empresa de bens de consumo The Craftory.
  8. Farman, Madeleine (15 May 2018). "Spice commits $60m to new consumer goods platform The Craftory". Realdeals. Retrieved 22 August 2018. Spice commits $60M to The Craftory.
  9. Wastell, Kenny (14 May 2018). "Spice PE in $300m deal for The Craftory". Unquote. Retrieved 22 August 2018. Spice Private Equity has agreed to invest up to $300m in The Craftory, a newly-formed UK-based investment group focusing on consumer goods, alongside other investors.
  10. Boscolo, Rodrigo (11 May 2018). "GP Investments announces the launching of The Craftory". GP. Retrieved 22 August 2018. The Craftory is a revolutionary concept: a new investment company dedicated entirely to backing disruptive new challengers in the consumer goods space.
  11. Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (14 May 2018). "The Craftory looks to back upstarts in fight against consumer giants". Financial Times.
  12. Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (14 May 2018). "The Craftory looks to back upstarts in fight against consumer giants". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 August 2018. Now, an investment group launching this week aims to nurture more of what it calls these " disruptive challengers toppling lumbering giants " by pumping $300m of private capital into the growth and development of upstart consumer goods companies.
  13. Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (19 June 2018). "How millennials' taste for 'authenticity' is disrupting powerful food brands". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 August 2018. He co-founded The Craftory, an investment group launched last month to help challenger companies grow.
  14. Daneshkhu, Scheherazade (12 July 2018). "The Craftory aiuta le start up nella lotta ai colossi dei beni di consumo". Il Sole 24 Ore. Retrieved 22 August 2018. Molti grandi consumer group negli ultimi anni hanno costituito propri fondi capitale come mezzi per individuare e investire in nuovi trend: tra questi vi sono le aziende alimentari Mars, Kellogg's, Danone, la distilleria Diageo e Unilever, la società di prodotti alimentari e per la cura della persona. Ma The Craftory - il cui logo è una lupa che cerca con lo sguardo e con occhi simili a laser i suoi «cuccioli investimenti» - si considera essa stessa un gruppo di concorrenti, tanto quanto le aziende nelle quali spera di investire. «Si pensi al numero incalcolabile di fondi di investimento, con personale e uffici prontamente rimpiazzabili. Ecco, noi cerchiamo di proposito di essere diversi», ha aggiunto Schmitt.
  15. "Competing with both Perfect Day and Beyond Meat, Chile's NotCo raises $85 million to expand to the US". TechCrunch. 9 September 2020.
  16. Clark, Jessica (1 March 2019). "Hipster investor The Craftory leads $30m funding round in vegan startup". City A.M.
  17. "Why VCs are backing gender-neutral fashion". Vogue. 14 July 2020.
  18. Ell, Kellie (2019-05-14). "Gender-Neutral Brand TomboyX Secures $18 Million in Series B Funding". WWD. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  19. Cherubini2020-02-18T12:01:00+00:00, Elena. "DTC cleaning products firm Dropps secures $16m to scale up". The Grocer. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  20. "The public octo-track process". Fortune. February 19, 2020.
  21. "Capital Investment firm The Craftory Invests $20m in Present Life". Business Wire.
  22. Lucinda, Shen (15 October 2020). "Adam Neumann makes his next real estate play". Fortune.
  23. Alec, Mattinson (18 November 2020). "Premium dog food brand Edgard & Cooper secures £16.5m to back European growth". The Grocer.
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