Prelude Growth Partners, a new private equity firm that will provide growth capital and operating support to consumer brands, has been launched by Neda Daneshzadeh and Alicia Sontag.
Prelude’s strategy is to make investments of $3 million to $10 million in companies operating in branded consumer categories including personal care and beauty; food and beverage; baby; pet; health and wellness; household; and other consumer categories.
“There has never been a more compelling time to invest in high potential, fast-growing consumer brands,” said Ms. Sontag. “Today, we are seeing new consumer brands scale more rapidly than ever before as a result of a modern generation of consumer demand and changing market dynamics. Across categories, we expect the top 10 brands of tomorrow to be markedly different than the top 10 brands of today.”
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.
“We are excited to launch Prelude and are confident that our complimentary experiences, strong industry relationships and deep operating know-how both at the firm and through our world-class operating advisors will enable us to capitalize on the secular changes in the consumer sector,” said Ms. Daneshzadeh. “Central to Prelude’s investment thesis is our belief that a highly active and value-added investing approach will lead to a structural advantage in sourcing new investments and driving growth at our portfolio companies.” Ms. Daneshzadeh spent the last 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.
To assist with transaction origination and portfolio company value creation, Prelude has assembled a group of operating advisors including Maureen Chiquet, former Global CEO of Chanel, and Laura Lang, former CEO of Time and Digitas.
Prelude Growth Partners is headquartered in New York (www.preludegrowth.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | November 1, 2017