Prelude Growth Partners announced its launch as a private equity firm focused on providing growth capital and value-added operating support to high potential, fast-growing consumer brands. The firm is founded by Neda Daneshzadeh and Alicia Sontag, who bring a combined 40 years of complementary expertise in the consumer industry, having previously served as investors and senior operators at world-class firms. Prelude is headquartered in New York City.
Ms. Daneshzadeh spent the last 12 years at L Catterton, the largest and most global consumer-focused private equity firm in the world, where she most recently served as Partner and member of the investment committee. Previously, Ms. Sontag was Global President of Beauty at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies where she led a portfolio of over 10 iconic brands including Neutrogena, Aveeno and OGX. She was recently recognized by Women’s Wear Daily as one of the “Fifty Most Powerful Women in Beauty.” Ms. Daneshzadeh and Ms. Sontag first worked together nearly 20 years ago at McKinsey & Company.
Prelude has assembled a powerful group of operating advisors including Maureen Chiquet, former Global CEO of Chanel, and Laura Lang, former CEO of Time and Digitas, differentiating the firm by deepening the knowledge and expertise in origination and value creation.
“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.”
“We are excited to launch Prelude and are confident that our complementary 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.”
About Prelude Growth Partners
Prelude Growth Partners is a New York City based growth equity firm focused on providing capital and value-added operating support to high potential, fast-growing consumer brands. Prelude seeks to make investments of $3 million to $10 million in each company, across branded consumer categories including personal care/beauty, food & beverage, baby, pet, health & wellness and other consumer categories. For additional information on Prelude, please visit www.preludegrowth.com.
