VGC on the road for GBP 150m fund; appoints former Nike exec

Wahida Ahmed
06 January 2023

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Brands specialist growth investor VGC is on the road for a new fund aiming to raise GBP 150m, with a first close expected by the end of this quarter.

The London-based investor has also just appointed Dan Rookwood as the operating partner and its head of brand.

Fundraising for VGC Partners II LP Fund comes as the GP finished investing its first flagship vehicle in December, Rookwood told Unquote. Fund I closed on GBP 50m in 2018 and has some capital left for follow-on investments.

While the previous vehicle had an LP base of mainly British institutional investors, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, underpinned by the British Business Bank, the new fund will also look to attract international investors, Rookwood said.

VGC plans to build a portfolio of around 10 companies for Fund II, with three or four deals expected this year. The pace of deployment is then expected to pick up as the sponsor looks to double its eight-strong team over the next 18 months, he said.

Rookwood joins VGC having been a long-time advisor to the firm and previously serving as Nike's global senior director of editorial at its Oregon headquarters. Prior to that, he led the US editorial team at luxury fashion e-retailer Mr Porter in New York, according to a press release.

Rookwood told Unquote that he will draw on his experience in branding, marketing and editorial to find suitable brands to invest in. In his role at Mr Porter, Rookwood acted as the first filter for brands approaching the e-retailer. "I met a lot of brand leaders and got a sense of where there was a good brand fit. It was good for getting a good read for brand potential and I can tap into that at VGC."

Rookwood started his career at The Guardian newspaper and also worked at GQ and Esquire in New York, Time Out in Sydney, and Men's Health and Women's Health in London.

Investments
VGC's new fund will invest ticket sizes in the range of GBP 7m-GBP 15m, an increase from Fund I's GBP 2m-GBP 7m investments. It will target companies in the digital media, technology and consumer sectors in the GBP 10m-GBP 25m EV range. Although the firm has historically made most of its deals in the consumer space, it will stray from this focus to avoid concentration in businesses that are heavily reliant on supply chains due to the issues in the area, Rookwood said.

The firm primarily invests in brands and has in its portfolio businesses such as British menswear group Percival, in which it invested in 2018, and Sweden-based Sproud, a milk-alternative business, backed since January 2021.

Rookwood and his team will support portfolio companies with branding and marketing. He expects to have a founder-friendly approach and keep the brand strategy integral to the business strategy.

As the fund is backing scale-ups it typically looks to exit to a larger private equity fund or a big brand, he said.