Victoria Imerelli

Can you tell us more about JamJar and some businesses you’ve invested in recently?

JamJar is the innocent drinks founders’ venture fund. We back early-stage (pre-seed to Series A) consumer brands. Most of them are tech enabled, but we do classic offline or retail brands too. Our definition of consumer is broader than most. For us, a consumer brand is any business that markets to individuals, so that could be a marketplace, a consumer fintech, a health platform, and anything in between. Our portfolio is great and includes Deliveroo, Tony’s Chocolonely, Tails.com and Wild. Some recent investments include Flash Pack, a travel brand, and Suri, sustainable electric toothbrushes.

And what does your role as an investor involve?

I source interesting consumer brands and analyse them to see if they’re a good investment and fit for the fund. I find them through my network, events, newsletters, Instagram – you can find great companies anywhere, especially in consumer. In our weekly team meetings, we decide which opportunities to follow up with, then I do due diligence, looking at things like the financial model, metrics, and interviewing consumers. I also do in-depth research into a specific sector or area that might be of interest or we think will be an attractive space for investment.

How did you get into the world of consumer investments?

After graduating LSE, I joined The Business of Fashion as a journalist covering both global markets and D2C brands. I got to travel to Georgia and Ukraine to cover the local fashion industries and interviewed the founders of some great businesses like AllBirds, Everlane, and Glossier.

Two years in, I realised journalism wasn’t for me. I moved to an operational role within BoF, working with editorial, product and marketing, and worked on a tech conference we did called VOICES, where I got to meet amazing people in fashion, tech, science, and the arts. At this time, I realised VC would be a great next step. JamJar had just raised their second fund and were hiring – early-stage investing is as much about commercial analysis and research as it is about networking and knowing what makes a person click, so it was a great fit.

The three founders of JamJar are from innocent (arguably one of the most iconic consumer brands ever). What's it like working for those three founders?

They’re so well known and exceptional in their field, there’s so much to learn from them. What’s interesting is they’re all leaders in their disciplines, but they all approach a problem differently. Adam led commercial – he’s very good at strategy and international expansion. Jon was behind the operations and logistics side. And Rich is the brand guy; he pioneered ‘wackaging’. They always say that if one of them was missing, innocent would never have become what it is. It just shows how important it is to have complementary skills.

Are there any particular categories you’re interested in or have your eye on at the moment?

A great example is pets – we did tails.com which is a great business, and now some interesting dynamics are happening around the veterinary experience. People are having kids later so they’re treating pets like children and spending more on them, and there are also health problems in popular breeds right now. On the supply side, vets are overworked and most clinics aren’t good places to work. If you can use tech to build something better for consumers that’s also a great employer brand, it’s interesting.

There’s also a loneliness epidemic trickling into different sectors. Flash Pack does group trips for solo travellers in their 30s and 40s who have more disposable income for experiences. And there are a lot of companies doing things like single-parent living or AI-enabled couples therapy.

Beyond the commercial reasons for investing in a business, which other factors do you look at when making decisions?

We look at people, product and potential. People is the team: we look at a range of criteria that covers their commitment to their vision, sharpness in thinking and strategy, quality of execution, ability to attract and retain talent, and what their secret sauce is. Product is why people love the product, looking at the whole experience before you even make a purchase, like advertising. Potential is things like market size, how big the company could get, and other key commercial metrics. Fundamentally, we also want to invest in businesses we’re proud of, that make a positive impact on the planet and society.

When you're looking at a business, to what extent do you think brand and culture can help with things like finding and retaining talent?

It can help a business massively and plays a role in our due diligence. First, we look to see if there are any gaps in the team. Often, one founder will be commercial and one marketing, with no one in ops. That’s fine, as long as there’s a plan to hire in the process.

Then, we sit in on meetings and spend time in the office. You can tell if it’s a good workplace through the dynamic between founders and employees. It’s interesting to see if people can speak out. If so, who does the most speaking?

Richard, our partner, makes the point that internal and external brand should align. We never want to see a B-Corp where people say, “I hate working here”. Innocent is a great example of that: what you think it’s like to work there is exactly what it’s like in the office.

How important do you think a strong brand is in making sure that culture is built from within so you can express it externally?

I think the most important thing is for everyone to be behind it. If people don’t align internally, there’ll always be something missing. Your first hires should be people obsessed with the product, who’d be power users if they weren’t working for you. Brand is about top-level elements like how the brand looks, but it’s also things like follow-up emails when a customer forgets to check out. Little things everyone contributes to.

The IPA/Brand Finance Investment Analyst Survey recently revealed that “strength of brand/marketing” is the factor most frequently cited by analysts when asked how they appraise and analyse the companies they cover. What's your POV on this?

It’s music to our ears. Brand is the driver behind a lot of our investment. We’ve seen time again that strong brands command a higher price. But also, a good brand can’t hide a bad product. You want the brand to be as good as the product, and have a positive effect on the experience from the moment you go on the website to the moment you use it. You’d be surprised at how often what you get doesn’t align with what you thought you’d receive.

When do you think businesses should start thinking about brand?

From the beginning, because it’s impossible to retrofit. We invest early on and don’t expect something to be fully formed, but to have that bit of magic that can be developed. If your brand has people who buy it and tell their friends about it, it’s a strong start.

What’s your favourite brand and why?

I’m obsessed with Suri, which would be my answer even if it wasn’t in our portfolio. I describe them as the Apple of electric toothbrushes because they’ve completely rethought the experience of owning one. From the second you open it to how you store it, it’s super sleek. You charge every 30 days instead of every two, it doesn’t get grimy, and the heads are fully recyclable. I’ve never seen such a fan base around any product, let alone a toothbrush. When you see a stranger talking to someone for 10 minutes about a toothbrush, there’s magic.

We’ve talked a lot about the consumer space because that’s JamJar’s ethos. But do you think it’s still an interesting place to invest?

100%. If you look at some of the biggest companies in the world, most of them are consumer – Apple, Nike, Unilever, LVMH. It’s a huge segment – household spending makes up 60% of the UK economy and that hasn’t shifted regardless of economic downturns.

As VCs, we try not to think about the immediate future, but how people will live in eight, nine, ten years. Economic cycles always shift, and right now people are delaying big purchases like houses or cars. But small AOV purchases in the premium space, luxury treats, we’ve seen them do really well. Beauty and personal care is a great example: wellness is so imbued into our lives that people aren’t willing to stop spending on it, which has been an effect of Covid. Maybe it’s a gym membership, or Athletic Greens or that expensive pillow spray that gives you a good night’s sleep. A consumer survey said we’d rather stop going to restaurants and bars than stop our wellness routines, and this is clear in the businesses we see too.