About us
True is Europe’s only retail and consumer sector specialist that operates across the entire investment vertical.
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Founding Story
In 2013 Matt and Paul exited startup alexandalexa.com, an online luxury childrenswear retailer in which they invested in 2008, for more than 4.5 times invested capital. They went onto form True.
Since then, Matt and Paul have been joined by a like-minded and ambitious team, and today True is Europe’s only consumer and retail sector-specialist that operates across the entire investment vertical.
Matt Truman
CEO and Co-Founder
Matt has been involved in the retail and consumer sector for 16 years. Graduating from the University of London with a 1st class degree in business and economics, he began his career at Deloitte before joining Lehman Brothers as an equity analyst, where he was made Head of Retail. He subsequently joined JP Morgan where he led the European retail franchise. Over his 13-year career in the City, Matt advised a collection of the largest and most disruptive retailers in the world. He co-founded True with Paul Cocker in 2008, initially as a private investment vehicle to build and ultimately realise his own e-commerce business in his spare time, before launching the business full time in 2013.
Matt sits on the board of True portfolio companies: Ribble Cycles, The Cotswold Company and Tyres on the Drive.
Paul Cocker
Co-Founder
Paul started his 20-year retail and consumer career at Deloitte, meeting Matt in the process. He then spent seven years as a corporate financier while at the same time, joining forces with Matt to build AlexandAlexa and subsequently launch True. Paul focuses on True’s investment portfolio, whilst also ensuring that True delivers against its long-term strategy.
Paul sits on the board of The Cotswold Company, Ribble Cycles, Tyres on the Drive and Frugi.
True team
Richard Anson
Strategy Director
Richard is Strategy Director at True, Non-executive Director of The Blogger Programme, and a Senior Teaching Fellow at UCL’s School of Management.
Richard works across True to pull together all three parts of our strategy (PE, Partnerships and Early Stage Investments) to drive the business forward. He also advises high growth businesses, consults corporates on innovation and how to act more like a startup, as well as lecturing at UCL's business school on entrepreneurship.
Natasha Asher-Relf
Marketing Communications Manager
Natasha has over six years' experience in public relations, most recently holding the PR Manager role at LG Electronics. Her background is in the technology and consumer sectors, working for businesses such as Amazon, Panasonic, and Whitbread.
Francesca Baillieu
Commercial Analyst
Francesca joined True after gaining experience as an Investment Analyst at technology seed fund, Playfair Capital. Prior to this Francesca spent two years working at ecommerce startup Evode Group as Project Coordinator.
Carien Beyer
Innovation Programme Manager
Carien runs the innovation programme for True's leading industry partner, the John Lewis Partnership. Prior to joining True, Carien worked within the innovation, procurement and marketing departments for some of the largest consumer beauty groups including The Estée Lauder Companies and LVMH, as well as being part of the team that built up beauty-tech business Ruuby.
Richard Brick
Principal
Before joining True, Rich worked on retail mergers and acquisitions for Citigroup, where his focus was on the execution of private equity deals in e-commerce, food and beverages.
Zillah Byng-Thorne
Board Adviser
Zillah sits on True's Board of Directors as Non-Executive Board Director. Zillah is CEO of Future PLC and with prior experience leading and growing high-profile consumer and media brands including Paddy Power Betfair, Trainline International and Auto Trader, Zillah adds invaluable insight to True’s senior leadership, supporting True’s strategic vision.
Jamie Campbell
Commercial Analyst
Jamie joins True following prior experience at Bell Potter Securities and at Nomura as a Global Markets Analyst. Jamie graduated from Leeds University with a degree in English Literature and has also completed a Masters in Investment and Finance at the University of Strathclyde Business School.
Matt Chandler
Commercial Analyst
After working in Alternative Finance at Triple Point Matt went on to co-found a real-time bookings platform catering to the male barbering sector. Matt supports True’s partnership activities and deal flow.
Claire Cherry
Associate
Prior to True, Claire was with Calculus Capital, where she completed six deals including an investment in InspireSport and Jumptastic. Claire is a CFA charter holder.
Charlotte Connaughton
Associate
Prior to True, Charlotte spent six years in the M&A team at Goldman Sachs, focusing on the consumer and retail sector. During her time there Charlotte advised on a number of notable transactions including the sales of Holland & Barrett, New Look and Spirit Pubs .
Tamasha Ginige
Personal Assistant to Founder & CCO
Tamasha has spent her career between London and Australia. Before joining True she was an Executive Assistant at Virgin Unite, the charitable arm of the Virgin Group.
Roddy Green
Principal
Before joining True, Roddy spent four years at Endless LLP, a leading mid-market private equity firm in the UK. Roddy began his career with EY, initially within audit and their mid-market corporate finance teams, and is ACA qualified.
Taos Grisdale
Venture Capital Analyst
Taos supports True’s early stage investment activities. Prior to True, he was on the graduate scheme at Terra Firma and also spent a year on Aldi’s area management accelerator programme.
Deepak Jayaraman
Director
Deepak leads international expansion activities for True. Prior roles have seen him lead early stage investment deals, conduct M&A transactions and manage other global engagements for a variety of noteworthy institutions. Previously, he served as EMEA Head of Corporate Engagement for Goldman Sachs where he built a widely acclaimed UK company late stage accelerator. Prior to leaving the US in 2006 he was an investment banker at J.P.Morgan in New York City and a corporate Lawyer at Mintz Levin in Boston.
Oscar King
Investment Analyst
Prior to joining True as a graduate, Oscar undertook placements at Downing LLP and Adam Street Advisers.
Ben Kirby
Director
Prior to True, Ben was an investor in the London team at BGF leading investments into both private and listed businesses. He has also worked within the private equity teams at Greenhill, Goldman Sachs and Octopus Ventures. He started his career at KPMG and is a qualified ACA.
Jessica Lamb
Operations Assistant and PA to Director & CFO
Jessica looks after the needs of the office and the True team. Jessica has worked in several retail and hospitality roles, most recently leading the reception duties at a busy City gym.
Archie Mason
Director
Archie previously lead JLP Ventures, the innovation team of the John Lewis Partnership, and prior to that was Head of Growth for the Convenience division of Waitrose. Archie started his career at PwC focusing on corporate strategy consulting and commercial due diligence, and is ACA qualified
Serena McCutcheon
Head of Operations
Before True, Serena was an Executive Assistant at Global Insurance firms JLT Specialty and Zurich Insurance.
Rakhee Patel
People & Culture Director
Before joining the True team, Rakhee worked across multiple leadership roles for 10 years at Pentland Brands. Specialising in HR and organisational development, Rakhee is also an accredited performance coach.
Will Pearson
CFO
Will began his career at Deloitte, meeting Matt and Paul in the process, and subsequently spent twelve years at GE Capital holding several CFO and senior finance roles.
Catherine Pelton
Associate
Prior to joining True, Catherine worked at Pentland Brands in both their UK and China offices. During her time there she worked on acquisitions, licensing partnerships and business development.
Alexandra Robertson
Receptionist
Alex is the first face you see at True, welcoming all True guests and responsible for the smooth running of the Hub. Prior to True, Alex worked in the hospitality sector completing a winter season working as Head Chalet Host in Austria.
Chris Spira
Operating Partner
Chris is an experienced strategist and operator, who advises branded business on growth and turnaround situations in the premium/luxury consumer goods space. He has been a CEO, board member and independent consultant to 70+ businesses, particularly fast-growing, creatively-driven businesses, working mostly with founders and business owners.
Edward Staite
Communication Adviser & Performance Coach
Edward has helped presidents, prime ministers, business leaders, global brands, start-up founders and multi-national companies to communicate better for over 20 years. He has helped build high performing teams, grow businesses, secure funding and win elections in Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East. Previously he was a communications strategist and press secretary for David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson.
Oksana Stowe
Principal
Before True, Oksana worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Moelis & Co within M&A investment banking, and Oakley Capital where she advised fast growing disruptors such as The Hut Group and Just Eat.
Mike Tattersall
CCO
Mike heads up True’s leading industry partner programme. As a PwC chartered accountant, Mike worked with BAT, Glaxo, SAB and Associated Newspapers. Then, at investment bank, Cazenove, he led advisory relationships, including ones with Tesco and Booker, focusing on research. He was also involved in the IPOs of Burberry and Inditex. Mike moved to UBS where he advised Sainsbury's and Greggs and led Ocado’s IPO.
Kim-Marie Visser
Head of Marketing
Kim has spent over ten years working in public relations and marketing, representing consumer brands such as EE, Panasonic, Logitech and Nikon. Kim joined True in 2016, leading all marketing, communications and events.
Advisory Committee
Hannu Ryopponen
Hannu is a non-executive director at Amer Sports and Samworth Brothers. He was the Chairman of the Altor private equity funds for 13 years. Hannu was IKEA’s CFO during its incredible growth (1985 to 1998), CFO at food retailing group Ahold (2003 to 2005), and CFO and deputy CEO of Stora Enso, the pulp and paper group (2005 to 2009). He was also CFO of private equity firm IK Partners, for five years.
Robert Burrow
Robert is Co-Chairman of Chelsfield Group Limited and Chief Executive of Chelsfield Advisers LLP. He has been a director of various entities within the Caxton Group including Caxton Global Investments Limited and Senior Partner at S J Berwin LLP (now King and Wood Mallesons), where he specialised in private and public international M&A.
Sir Ian Cheshire
Sir Ian is Chairman of Barclays and sits on the board of Whitbread. He was Debenhams' Chairman, B&Q’s CEO and later Group CEO of Kingfisher. In 2015, Sir Ian became the Government’s Lead Non-Executive, having formerly been the Lead Non-Executive Director of the Department for Work and Pensions and Chairman of the British Retail Consortium.
Terry Duddy
Terry is the interim Chairman of Debenhams. He is a former Non-Executive Director at Hammerson and was Sales Director at Currys, Product Marketing Director at Dixons and Managing Director of PC World. In 1998, he became CEO of Argos and subsequently Home Retail Group’s CEO in 2006.
Edward Griffith
Edward is CEO and Co-Founder of LoveCrafts, which has enjoyed exceptional growth and is a former True portfolio company. He previously built the world’s biggest network for teachers (TES Global) based on sharing lesson plans and was Boo.com’s first employee.
John Strachan
John is a retail property veteran and the former Global Head of Retail at Cushman & Wakefield and sat on its UK and EMEA boards. He has served on Government and advisory panels including the International Council of Shopping Centres. He is Chairman of Intu Properties plc.