EMIL CAPITAL’S HERITAGE OF STRONG CONSUMER BRANDS
At Emil Capital, we invest in consumer brands. We have gravitated towards consumable goods historically because of our founding sponsor, The Tengelmann Group. The Tengelmann Group is a consumer-facing company itself: it began as a wholesale business in coffee and chocolate more than a century ago, then became a retailer.
Now, Tengelmann is an entrepreneurial holding company that operates businesses in the consumer space throughout North America and Europe, including home improvement, e-commerce, and clothing. As Emil’s values are shaped by the values of our investors, this heritage has contributed heavily to our current-day focus on consumer brands.
The Power of Consumer Brands
In addition to our founding history, Emil has a special affinity towards investing in consumable goods because of their necessity in the modern market. Consumers will always need to consume goods and services, regardless of how those goods and services may change, and which come and go. For example: even as snack brands have changed (potato chips to veggie chips) as health has come to the forefront, consumers still desire snacks. The desire and need for any consumable goods will remain. In fact, we find the turnover of leading consumer goods is what makes the space so interesting.
What Emil Looks For
When looking to invest, we focus on a company’s founding team. It’s important that they exhibit passion for their product and the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to lay the foundation of a company, and a degree of humility. We consider our relationship with the founders to be deeply collaborative and have the best outcome in mind for the company.
Our philosophy is that the world in which we live is a “VUCA” world (which stands for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous). Accordingly, the ability to learn and adapt quickly is key. We are looking for founders and companies that agree with this principle.
The Emil Experience
At Emil, we pride ourselves on being hands-on in every facet of business and business growth within our portfolio companies. We invest because we see a great deal of potential in the brand, as well as an opportunity for the product’s sustainable scalability. Accordingly, we invest much more than capital: we give our resources and guidance from what we’ve learned in our years of experience in the consumer goods space. We choose to invest when we know we can bring a consumer brand to great heights and are committed to making that happen for the long run.
Currently, we are most excited about the following consumer brand categories: plant-based foods (especially meat alternatives), clean ingredients, personalized food products, companies focusing on “waste,” sustainable and fashionable apparel, health and wellness, the ageing population, and direct to consumer distribution with e-commerce optimized packaging. We believe these categories are poised for the greatest growth in today’s market.