Investment Focus

Unilever Ventures seeks investments in the following industry sectors:

  1. Technology

    Technology that could be deployed to help
    Unilever’s sustainability mission

    Products or process technologies that can reduce chemical use or substitute benign for hazardous chemicals

    Technologies that reduce or recycle waste

    Products or systems that purify or conserve water

  2. Personal Care

    Personal Care

    Consumer products which could become new categories for Unilever

    New distribution channels

  3. Digital Marketing

    Digital Marketing

    3G/4G mobile technology for delivering more effective consumer marketing

    Web technologies to measure effectiveness of on-line marketing

    Mobile or web technologies to help understand consumer behaviour

  4. Novel Foods

    Novel Foods

    New brands or categories

    Nutraceuticals or functional foods that are genuinely health-promoting

    Novel formulation techniques that produce healthier or higher quality products

  5. Health and Vitality

    Health and Vitality

    New product categories that help people lead healthier and more enjoyable lives.

The companies that UV invests in satisfy the following criteria:

  • Clearly defined and differentiated business proposition
  • Propositions that can demonstrate significant growth potential within a sizeable market opportunity
  • Business models that can be readily implemented and are scalable

Most of the companies UV considers investing in have unique and innovative technology which can be patented. With consumer products that are not technology-based, we look for companies which have innovative products, brands and management teams, or represent new categories that could deliver exceptional returns.

We look for synergies with Unilever brands, technologies or know-how. This gives UV a distinctive ability to help young companies in our core focus areas gain market access and grow more quickly.

UV invests in companies in the following stages of development:

  • Start-up capital – we can provide strategic and business planning advice and can help assemble high quality management teams around exciting new business propositions. These opportunities will typically originate from within Unilever and typically use Unilever IP or brands.
  • Expansion / Development capital – we invest in more established businesses that require funding to accelerate growth.
  • Buyouts – we consider buy-outs as a lead or co-investor in businesses with a capitalisation of up to €50m. Companies must fit our investment criteria either as stand-alone investments or as strategic additions to one of our existing portfolio companies.

UV is a proactive venture capitalist. We conduct thorough due diligence before investing in a company and remain actively involved in significant business decisions as non-executive directors. Because of our proactive approach, we seek majority or significant minority shareholdings to justify the resource commitment this entails.

UV seeks other investors into its portfolio companies at a relatively early stage. This brings sector expertise to our broad range of investments and creates a strong shareholder base.

UV can invest small amounts (€100,000-€500,000) in companies where the value proposition is still being proven and larger amounts (up to €10m in stages) to fund expansion. UV typically invests in stages.