Natalie Massenet is planning lifestyle investment firm - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 7, 2017

News last week that Natalie Massenet would team up with Farfetch as its non-executive co-chairman was just a little disappointing. The industry had been gearing up for her to announce a more hands-on role and a possibly a completely new venture as her next big move.

Now it has emerged that Farfetch will be just one of her ventures with the Net-a-Porter founder reported to be teaming up wth venture capitalist Nick Brown with a new investment firm that will fund e-commerce companies across fashion, lifestyle and beauty.

The news is not official but sources with access to the the British Fashion Council chairman said it will happen.

And they said she could be diving into the investment world via the Imaginary Ventures vehicle that she registered in the UK last October. However, Massenet’s spokespeople are not commenting and neither are Nick Brown’s.

WWD reported that she is linking with Brown for her new career and that the venture will launch this spring. Interestingly, it also said that one of the first investments could be in Farfetch.

But while the luxury online marketplace still has plenty of room to grow, it is a much more mature business than the other likely targets of Imaginary Ventures’ capital - e-commerce start-ups.

The first two investments rumoured to be on the list are soup and smoothie delivery service Daily Harvest and beverage firm Dirty Lemon.

Those two are outside of the fashion sector but with the investment in Farfetch looking likely and no shortage of fashion e-tail start-ups around, Imaginary Ventures’ portfolio would probably quickly be skewed towards more style-focused businesses.