True is a consumer and retail sector specialist. We invest in companies serving consumers and/or businesses in the consumer and retail sectors – a strategy we wrote about earlier this year. This has been our focus since Matt Truman and Paul Cocker founded True in 2013. We often get asked why, but the results speak for themselves: over the past 10-15 years, the European consumer and retail sectors have delivered 170+ outcomes exceeding $500m, collectively creating over $500b in value. It is clear we are operating in a massive opportunity space.
Spotlight on big outcomes
We’ve all heard of the consumer and retail markets’ biggest success stories – FinTech giants like Revolut and Monzo, disruptive delivery leader Deliveroo, resale marketplace Vinted and lifestyle staples GetYourGuide and Flo. These companies have become household names, embodying the strength and potential of the European consumer and retail innovation ecosystem. However, these are a small sample of a market which has, by our count, birthed at least 120 consumer and retail unicorns over the past 10-15 years. Together, the value of these companies totalled an astonishing $400b, with an average of over $3b per company. In fact, our analysis shows that 57% of all unicorns in Europe could be considered consumer companies (compared to B2B).
Value beyond unicorns
Whilst unicorns often steal the spotlight, the consumer and retail sectors are also driving exceptional outcomes through IPOs and M&As. Over the past 10-15 years, more than 40 companies in the space have exited, collectively creating over $129b in value at the time of their IPOs/acquisition, with an average of $2.7b per company. Some of these companies include Amplitude (RetailTech), Depop (Social Commerce), Eviosys (RetailTech) and Kahoot (EdTech). These success stories highlight the breadth of opportunity within the sector and support our belief that there is a huge opportunity to create valuable companies in our space.
It’s true that consumer company-building can be a harder journey, but once momentum is established, the outcomes can be much bigger. In 2024, Forerunner analysis showed that consumer companies are less likely to reach Series B, but once they do, they are 13% more likely than enterprise companies to go public with nearly 19% of them exiting at $10b+ valuations – almost double the rate seen in enterprise companies at ~10%.
Why True?
All this makes us excited to continue to work with founders in the consumer and retail space, becoming true partners, as we wrote in a blog post earlier in the year.
Our sector expertise isn’t just theoretical – we are committed to unlocking opportunities for our portfolio companies by leveraging our network, providing strategic insights, and helping founders immerse themselves in the consumer and retail landscape.
So, if you’re building within consumer and retail, we’d love to hear from you and are ready to (quite literally) put our money where our mouth is!