Prelude Growth Partners, an investor in consumer brands, has closed Prelude Growth Partners II LP at its hard cap of $250 million. The firm’s second fund was oversubscribed and was raised in just four months.
Institutional limited partners in the new fund include university endowments, charitable foundations, pension funds and global banks.
New York City-based Prelude Growth was founded in 2017 by Neda Daneshzadeh and Alicia Sontag and invests from $10 million to $40 million in high-growth, disruptive consumer brands. Specific sectors of interest include personal care, beauty, food and beverage, baby, pet, health and wellness and household. The firm’s first fund closed in February 2018 with $85 million in capital.
“We are thrilled to have closed Fund II with tremendous support from both existing and select new limited partners who helped us complete an over-subscribed fundraise in just four months,” said Ms. Daneshzadeh. “Our advantaged portfolio not only showed resiliency through COVID-19 – it also showed significant growth. With our proprietary sourcing approach and disciplined investment strategy, Prelude Growth is distinctively positioned to generate superior returns to our investors.”
Before co-founding Prelude Growth, Ms. Daneshzadeh spent more than 12 years at L Catterton where she was a partner and a member of the firm’s investment committee. Earlier in her career, she was with Bed Bath & Beyond, McKinsey & Company and Morgan Stanley.
“In addition to our world-class operating capabilities and network to support our portfolio, what sets Prelude Growth apart is our deep consumer expertise and differentiated insights on consumer and category dynamics,” said Ms. Sontag.
Ms. Sontag is the former Global President of Beauty at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies where from 2013 to 2017 she led a portfolio of over 10 brands including Neutrogena, Aveeno and OGX. In 2015 she was recognized by Women’s Wear Daily as one of the “Fifty Most Powerful Women in Beauty.” From 2002 to 2013 she was a Senior Vice President with Estée Lauder.
Current portfolio companies of Prelude include New York-based Banza, a seller of chickpea-based pasta, pizza and rice (November 2019); New York City-based Sol de Janeiro, a seller of skin and body care products; New York City-based 8Greens, a seller of dietary supplements (April 2019); Los Angeles-based Summer Fridays, a seller of skincare products (August 2019); Minneapolis-based dpHUE, a seller of at-home hair color products (December 2020); Minneapolis-based So Good So You, a seller of plant-based functional beverages (November 2020); and New York City-based Westman Atelier, a seller of cosmetic products.
“Many of the shifting consumer behaviors we’ve seen through the pandemic will continue to endure, including the acceleration of e-commerce, growth in digital connectivity, focus on health and wellness, and conscious consumption,” concluded Ms. Sontag. “We look forward to strategically deploying capital from Fund II to continue backing exceptional brands with the potential to become the iconic powerhouse brands of the future.”
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | February 26, 2021
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