Fashion stars Natalie Massenet and Nick Brown launch Imaginary Ventures and announce first $75m fund

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 Imaginary Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by Natalie Massenet and Nick Brown, has closed its first fund of $75 million. Imaginary will invest primarily in early stage, direct-to-consumer businesses at the intersection of retail and technology.

The combination of Massenet’s experience of launching and building a multi billion-dollar retail business, Net-A-Porter, and Brown’s track record as an early-stage investor in the category at 14W, places Imaginary Ventures in a unique position to support the next generation of retail leaders.

At a time when online discovery and distribution platforms have made it easier than ever to launch a business, Imaginary’s team will use their combined experience, operational expertise and network to maximize the growth of early stage companies that are capitalizing on this rapidly changing environment, and that focus their strategy around an understanding of consumers’ evolving needs.

Massenet said: “I’ve felt for a while that I wanted to apply the brand-building experience and network I’ve gained over my career to today’s evolving retail landscape. The most effective route to do that was to partner with and invest in this emerging generation of entrepreneurs challenging the retail status-quo across every vertical. Partnering with Nick to launch Imaginary made perfect sense. We have always shared a vision that the businesses that will endure will be those that relentlessly prioritise their consumers’ identities and needs and never lose sight of them as they grow.”

Brown said: “Natalie and I are partnering on Imaginary because we believe these emerging brands, platforms and retail solutions have the potential to scale into global businesses. I could not imagine a better entrepreneur and partner to build this platform with.”