Today, the team behind Grwth Club launched consumer venture fund Grwth Ventures, with a £5 million cornerstone investment from employee-owned media planning and buying agency MNC.
Grwth Club started as a two-pronged venture: connecting businesses with the right marketing agencies and offering strategic advice for growth. The company was founded by Joe Benn, a seasoned founder and advisor, and Jake Higgins, a growth specialist with experience at Forward Partners VC fund.
‘Grwth Ventures’ will sit under the total ‘Grwth’ brand umbrella alongside the existing ‘Grwth Club’ and ‘Grwth Advisory’ business divisions currently offering agency matchmaking and strategic growth support. Clients of Grwth include yfood, Surreal, Genius, GRIND, and TALA.
The start-up market is undergoing a fundamental shift; this is even more pronounced in the consumer industry. Historically high valuations and a growth-at-all-costs approach have put many good businesses in tough situations.
The Grwth Ventures team will look to align valuations with realistic exit multiples, investing patient capital into businesses with strong underlying economics at the Seed and Series A level. They will focus on sustainable growth, which they believe is the medicine needed in current market conditions.
Their thesis will focus on consumer products and technology, where the team has already been active as angel investors. However, they will also keep an open mind to adjacent sectors. Founders will get access to the team operational expertise and the wider Grwth network.
Founding Partner of Grwth, Jake Higgins said:
”Our business was founded on the premise that we would ‘unbundle’ the traditional VC model and rebuild it for the modern economic environment.
That’s why we initially started with a service that matches start-ups with agencies of all disciplines. We then built a prestigious fundraising advisory service focused on bringing family offices into the consumer space.
Grwth Ventures represents the final key step in the process”.
Founding Partner of Grwth, Joe Benn said:
“We’ve been delighted with the strong demand from potential backers, but the alignment with MNC is second to none. They have deep experience scaling consumer brands into household names.
Andrew and Daniel have been fantastic to work with to get this venture over the line. We’re excited to get investing and it is great to have a head-start on deal flow given the work we’ve been doing supporting hundreds of start-ups over the last two years.”
Founder of MNC, Andrew McCutcheon said:
”We couldn’t be more excited to be the lead partner of Grwth Ventures and look forward to welcoming some excellent brands and founders to the portfolio over the coming years.”
Lead image: (Left to Right, co-founders Joe Benn, Jake Higgins and head of operations Maddie Pogson. Photo: uncredited.
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