2024 has been a memorable year at Active. It’s been our busiest yet, with 16 new investments across our Early-Stage and Growth funds, supporting a diverse range of purpose-led founders who are creating truly differentiated businesses that ultimately improve consumers’ lives.
In an environment where the only constant seems to be change, we continue to be impressed by our portfolio founders’ sheer determination and achievements. Many have raised follow-on funding, won awards, expanded into new countries or opened physical spaces for the first time this year. They are solving real consumer problems, building authentic brand communities and winning in consumers’ hearts and minds. It’s a privilege to be part of their growth journeys.
Read on to learn more about what we’ve been up to this year.
NEW INVESTMENTS
We welcomed 16 fantastic new companies into the Active family this year, taking our Early-Stage portfolio to 32 and our Growth portfolio to 20 companies. There are a couple of new investments we’re hoping to close in the next few weeks too.
Our investments have been guided by our four investment themes, which are defined by the megatrends of our time – Healthier Living and Wellness, Education and Empowerment, Responsible Consumption and Enriching Experiences.
Health and wellness have been a primary focus for us this year, making up 38% of our deals. Investments include supplements brand Artah, health and wellbeing platform Healf, men’s sexual wellbeing company Mojo, relationship tech company OurRitual, digital run coaching app Coopah and biotech company P.Happi.
We’ve also welcomed several companies in the food category into our portfolio, like butter brand All Things Butter, bone broth company Freja and dog food brand Marleybones, as well as in hospitality with our investment in sushi restaurant group Sticks’n’Sushi.
Other key areas of focus included education, travel and experiences with investments into ski holiday company Heidi, cycling experiences company LeBlanq, discovery booking platform Lovetovisit, Muslim education company Niyyah and digital watches trading platform Subdial. And one still to be announced. The team has been busy unearthing the most exciting consumer brands and tech in the UK.
Here’s a glimpse at our portfolio additions for 2024.
PORTFOLIO GROWTH
There have been lots of exciting developments across the portfolio this year.
Many of our portfolio companies raised fresh funding, including Northern Monk, which raised close to £2m in its crowdfunding campaign – nearly double its £1m target. Subdial secured new funding led by Stuart Hennell, the Founder of Watchfinder. Vinterior raised £3m from Channel 4 Ventures in a media-for-equity deal, and Mondelez’s corporate venture arm SnackFutures Ventures, backed Urban Legend.
It’s been a year of success for our sports companies. Padel Social Club secured investment from multi-platinum artist Stormzy, opened its new O2 site and received the green light for its Wandsworth site. Classified’s ground-breaking Powershift technology was used by INEOS Grenadiers in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France and LeBlanq successfully hosted its inaugural Joyride festival in October.
Our travel businesses have been thriving, as people continue to seek exceptional travel experiences with a difference. TravelLocal was selected to join TechNation’s prestigious Future Fifty group of 2024, the UK’s most respected growth programme for promising tech companies and became a certified B Corp – taking us to seven B Corp companies in the portfolio. Flash Pack opened the world’s first ‘Friendship Corner’ in New York, offering a unique solution to the city’s loneliness epidemic, and was named one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies by Sifted.
Honest Burgers launched its quick-service burger concept Honest Smash + Grab in London’s Liverpool Street while Sticks’n’Sushi opened a new restaurant in Islington. Patch opened its fourth neighbourhood workspace in Bournemouth and will soon open its fifth in York. Cubitts and Finisterre opened new locations on US soil too, with two Cubitts sites opening in New York and Finisterre launching its first US store in Maine in partnership with Maine Surfers Union.
Freja is taking the bone broth category by storm, launching several new products including its natural stock cube alternatives which won The Sunday Times taste test and were named the top launch in 2024 by The Grocer. All Things Butter also continues to disrupt the butter aisle with new flavour launches including Chocolate and Cinnamon and featured in this year’s Waitrose Food & Drink Report.
KatKin secured fourth place in the Startup 100 Index 2024, an annual list of the UK’s best new startups sparking change across sectors and expanded its team, welcoming a new CMO, CFO and a quartet of scientists into its cat nutrition team. In other pet news, Creature Comforts opened its first three vet clinics in St Johns Wood, Notting Hill and Chiswick as they continue pursuing their mission to redefine the vet experience and Marleybones launched in Waitrose and Ocado.
Several brands ventured into physical retail for the first time. Piglet in Bed now has three stores in Harrogate, Bath and Tunbridge Wells, while Facetheory opened its first store off London’s Regent Street and TALA made its physical store debut in Selfridges across the UK. The Fold also launched its second store in the Royal Exchange in the heart of the City of London.
Other brands launched successful Above the Line marketing campaigns too. Vinterior released its playful OOH campaign encouraging us to embrace furniture that lasts for generations, as well as its TV advert with Bill Nighy. Vieve also launched a new OOH campaign titled “Makeup That Gets You” across London taxis and billboards.
TEAM ADDITIONS AND EVENTS
We were delighted to welcome Claire McMonigle to the team as Executive Assistant and Office Manager in November. Hailing from Melbourne Australia, Claire has spent ten years working as an Assistant at Pitcher Partners, in between living and travelling abroad, including in Canada and across North and South America. We’ve also expanded our Early-Stage advisory group to 17, which includes industry leaders across travel, healthcare, retail, apparel, hospitality and consumer tech.
The team has been active attending and speaking at various industry events. Highlights include Billy joining a panel at Petcare Innovation Europe on The Future of Investment in the European Petcare Market alongside friends at Five Season Ventures and Verlinvest, Courtney speaking on a sustainable fashion panel at Blue Earth Forum and Anna sharing her perspective on fundraising at an Entrepreneur’s Collective event.
We’ve also loved hosting events throughout the year to bring together our wider Active community. These include a partnership event with brand design studio Pearlfisher exploring what it takes to build an iconic brand, a pricing webinar, an AI event and a founder social at Padel Social Club, amongst others. Our events calendar culminated in our annual Early-Stage Founder and Investor Evening at Old Sessions House, bringing together 150 people over a night of food, drinks and founder introductions.
It’s been a jam-packed year, and we’re as excited as ever about the future of the consumer market and what’s in store for 2025. Thank you for being part of the Active community.
