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Team

Passionate investors, marketing leaders and operations experts
Olivier Garel
Managing Partner
Olivier Garel
Managing Partner

Olivier leads Unilever Ventures Investment Committee and manages relationships with a number of Corporate and Venture Capital funds and Private Equity funds around the world. An M&A professional, Olivier has led a large number of transformative acquisition and divestment transactions for Unilever in different parts of the world. Over the last 20 years in Unilever, he has held senior positions in finance, strategy and business development.

Olivier manages Unilever Ventures’ investments in Be for Beauty (The INKEY List), Frank Body, FabFitFun, Instacart, Kopari, Sun Basket, Helpling, Nue Co, Grove Collaborative, Ioma Paris as well as our partnerships with a number of investment funds in Europe, Asia and North America.

Stephen Willson
Managing Partner
Stephen Willson
Managing Partner

Stephen has fifteen years of venture and growth capital investment experience across Europe and North America. This has included leading a number of Unilever Ventures’ early investments across eCommerce, consumer brands and technology enabled companies driving digital transformation across the broader CPG and retail ecosystems.

 

In particular, Stephen manages Unilever Ventures’ investments in Gousto, Nutrafol, Jellysmack, Grabango, Blow Ltd, BYBI, Volition, Thryve Inside and Songtradr.

 

Stephen was formerly a strategy consultant with Burlington / Deloitte, working on business strategy and private equity due diligence.

 

Pawan Chaturvedi
Partner - Asia
Pawan Chaturvedi
Partner - Asia

An experienced finance professional and qualified Chartered Accountant, Pawan established Unilever Ventures direct investing arm in Asia. Based in Mumbai, he is responsible for leading investments across the region with a focus on beauty, personal care & wellness, consumer tech and enterprise tech.

Pawan manages Unilever Ventures’ investments in Milkbasket, Shop101, Peel-works, Cure.Fit, Khatabook, Plum and Scentials.

Prior to Unilever Ventures, Pawan worked in various finance & leadership roles at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), Nokia and Britannia.

Rachel Harris
Partner
Rachel Harris
Partner

Experienced venture and growth capital investor, CEO and Non-Executive Board director specialising in beauty and wellness. In her role as an investor and Board director, Rachel brings first-hand operational and general management experience having previously been CEO of two beauty companies – REN Clean Skincare and a multi-site spa and salon business with operations in UK, Spain and Canada.

Rachel manages Unilever Ventures’ investments in The INKEY List (Be for Beauty), SAIE, Frank Body, UOMA, Rael, ZitSticka, Thesis, Hero, Womaness and Grown Alchemist.

Anna Ohlsson-Baskerville
Partner
Anna Ohlsson-Baskerville
Partner

Leveraging over twenty years of experience in venture capital investing in Europe and the US, Anna currently focusses on Unilever Ventures’ investments in beauty and wellness. Anna previously worked from investment to exit on a number of consumer-oriented companies as well as several specialty chemicals spin-outs from Unilever R&D.

Anna manages Unilever Ventures’ investments in True Botanicals, Trinny London, Beauty Bakerie, Curlsmith, SACHAJUAN, Gallinee and LXMI.

Anna is Swedish and lived twelve years in France prior to moving to the UK.

Isabelle Hemington
Principal
Isabelle Hemington
Principal

Izzy joined Unilever Ventures in 2021, bringing eight years’ experience working with high growth consumer brands.

She focuses on investing in wellness & beauty brands and the digital commerce space. Izzy manages Unilever Ventures’ investment in Perelel, Straand, and Live Tinted and is also working with the teams at Frank Body, Rael and Womaness.

Prior to joining Unilever Ventures, Izzy worked for six years as a Private Equity investor at 3i and Livingbridge, with a focus on investments in Consumer and Health across Europe and the US.

She started her career in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan in the UK M&A & IPO team.

Devesh Papney
Principal
Devesh Papney
Principal

Devesh focuses on Asian venture and growth investments across beauty, personal care & wellness, consumer tech and enterprise tech.

Within Unilever Ventures portfolio, Devesh works closely with Cure.Fit, Khatabook, Milkbasket, Shop101, Peel-works, Plum and Scentials.

Prior to Unilever Ventures, Devesh worked at Avendus Capital on multiple private equity, M&A and private markets transactions in the consumer and digital sectors. He has also worked at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in their Risk and Technology practices.

Devesh is based in Mumbai.

Gunita Bhasin
Investor
Gunita Bhasin
Investor

Based in London, Gunita focuses on European and North American investments across health & wellness, e-commerce, and enterprise tech. Within the Unilever Ventures portfolio, Gunita works closely with The Nue Co, Ombre and Kopari.

Prior to Unilever Ventures, Gunita worked for three years within VC, at Speedinvest in the Fintech investment team and at Atomico in the fundraising team. Gunita also spent four years at Deutsche Bank where, in her spare time, she founded a social network and gave a TEDx talk (‘How you make a difference’) about her entrepreneurial journey.

Gunita has an MSc in Economics for Development from Oxford University, where she was a Sloane Robinson Scholar, and a BSc in Economics from Warwick University.

Before moving to the UK, Gunita lived and studied in India, Singapore, and Turkey. She is a certified PADI open water diver and an avid food & fitness enthusiast.

Libby Knowles
Investor
Libby Knowles
Investor

Libby is based in London and joined Unilever Ventures in 2022 where she focuses on consumer brands and B2B tech for CPG. Her particular sector focus includes Consumer Internet, Health and Wellness and Sustainability Tech.

Libby began her career as a strategy consultant focusing on financial services and fintech. She conducted buy-side and sell-side engagements for private equity and corporates, as well as product and growth strategy engagements for corporates and start-up/scale-ups across financial services sectors/trends including Open Banking, Payments and SME finance.

Libby completed her MBA at London Business School where she was a Forte Fellow and BK Birla Scholar, while also completing an exchange at Columbia Business School in New York. She holds a BA from Oxford University.

In her spare time, she enjoys hot yoga, kite surfing and padel.

Clementine Provost
Investor
Clementine Provost
Investor

Clementine focuses on emerging consumer brands notably in Beauty and Wellness as well as enabling technologies in Europe and in North America. Within the Unilever Ventures portfolio, Clementine is working closely with True Botanicals, Trinny and CreatorIQ. Clementine is based in London.

Prior to Unilever Ventures, Clementine was working in the direct Private Equity fund (LTPC) at BlackRock specifically on Consumer/Beauty and Tech opportunities in Europe. She has a background in Investment Banking working across transactions (M&A, equity and debt transactions) with companies operating in the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors.

She graduated from a French Grande Ecole Emlyon Business school and spent some time at University of St. Gallen in Switzerland

Priyanka Thakkar
Investor
Priyanka Thakkar
Investor

Priyanka focuses on venture and growth investments across beauty and wellness, digital commerce, and enterprise tech in Asia. Within the Unilever Ventures portfolio, Priyanka is working closely with Minimalist, Convosight and Cultfit.

Prior to joining Unilever Ventures, Priyanka was a strategy consultant at Deloitte working on business transformation, advisory and go-to-market strategies for marquee financial services clients across Asia, Europe, US and Africa.

She has completed her MBA from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research and also holds a Bachelor of Engineering specializing in Information Technology.

Priyanka is a certified Hindustani classical singer. She is also passionate about traveling and has explored 20+ countries till date.

Paul Hart
Finance Controller
Paul Hart
Finance Controller

As the financial business partner on European and US Direct investments, Paul is responsible for portfolio performance processes as well as providing transactional support on specific deals.

Paul also serves as Unilever Ventures’ FCA Compliance and Money Laundering Officer and is responsible for UK accounting operations and systems.

Prior to joining Unilever Ventures, Paul worked across various Unilever FMCG operations in Europe. His roles have ranged from sales and marketing support, category finance, financial accounting operations, company planning and analysis to internal audit and business systems implementation.

Jay Miranda
Finance Controller - Funds
Jay Miranda
Finance Controller - Funds

As the financial business partner on global Fund investments, Jay is responsible for the evaluation, structuring, execution, management and reporting of Unilever Ventures’ global Fund investments.

Jay is a fellow of the ICAEW, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC and brings with her over thirty years’ experience in financial, commercial, and manufacturing accounting.

Ted Stotzer
Tax Counsel – M&A / Ventures
Ted Stotzer
Tax Counsel – M&A / Ventures

Ted is the dedicated Unilever tax advisor to Unilever Ventures.

In his role, he focuses on the tax aspects of venture capital, alternative invest¬ments, mergers and acquisitions and international tax policy. Ted has been involved in all tax aspects of due diligence, structuring, and integration of multiple large Unilever acquisitions and dispositions, including the recent acquisitions of Hourglass Cosmetics, Shea Moisture/Nubian Heritage, Olly Vitamins and Tatcha Skincare.

Ted has published numerous articles on current tax issues, including the 2017 US Tax Reform, blockchain/ virtual currencies and M&A.

Tom Vaughan-Jones
Financial Analyst
Tom Vaughan-Jones
Financial Analyst

As the Financial Analyst, Tom works across both the Direct Fund and the Growth / Fund of Fund Investment teams. Tom is primarily responsible for fund transaction recording and reporting processes as well as portfolio monitoring and analytics, through the iLevel software. He also has key responsibilities for reporting on investments and fund management entities.

Tom is a fellow of the CIMA having qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. Prior to joining Unilever Ventures in 2019, he held positions in Finance Business Partnering within the gaming industry.

Emma Dorinson
Office Manager/PA
Emma Dorinson
Office Manager/PA

Emma graduated in 2020 with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Oregon. She then moved to London and worked in real estate development before joining Unilever Ventures in the summer of 2022.

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