Moonbug And Goop Investor Felix Capital Raises $600 Million

A failed bid to build a textile marketplace at the height of the dotcom boom taught Felix Capital’s Frederic Court an important lesson about the power of habits. “Consumers can change their lifestyles fast, but in a work environment it takes much longer,” says Court, who has now landed a spot on the Midas List Europe with his investments in consumer-focused brands like Moonbug, Mejuri and Farfetch.

The London-based investor which styles itself as the venture fund for the “creative class” has now raised a new $600 million round, doubling its assets under management to $1.2 billion. Court, Felix Capital’s founder and managing partner, says the fund will stick with its “concentrated” focus on making up to 25 investments in European and American startups that tap into changing consumer behavior.

“We started very early at Felix to talk about the emergence of a more digital lifestyle and that’s a trend that has only accelerated,” says Court. “We want to back members of the creative class that will come up with new brands that will resonate with a certain audience or sub-community.”

Felix’s boutique approach to venture investing has proved a hit with early investments in fashion marketplace: Farfetch, food delivery app Deliveroo, and Peloton. The three companies, which are all now publicly traded, have like many tech stocks seen share prices slump from pandemic-era peaks.

The consumer-centric brands favored by Felix also face serious headwinds from inflation and the cost of living crisis—but Court still sees opportunity. “During Covid there were a few months where people were petrified, but what happened? People adapted. As they adapted, this created new opportunities,” says Court, adding he led the first investment in luxury-focused Farfetch in the depths of the financial crisis in 2010.

Felix has also recently celebrated a private exit with the sale of children’s entertainment startup Moonbug to private equity group Blackstone for $3 billion in November 2021. The fund had invested “double digits millions” pre-launch into the company which owns hit YouTube channels Cocomelon and Blippi, says Court. Felix has also backed actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop.

“Back when Frederic set up his first fund there were very few funds in Europe that understood the power of the consumer,” says Rene Rechtman, CEO of Moonbug. “That’s changed with massive American platforms dominating industries but Frederic was definitely on the forefront of that.”

Felix and Court are perhaps best known for investments in the fashion industry but the fund picks strong brands from across a range of industries like food, mobility, health, and ecommerce software based on emerging “digital lifestyle” themes. Court says Web3, and sustainability startups, like existing investments in NFT-based fantasy sports game Sorare and Oatly, which went public in May 2021 with a $10 billion valuation, would be important themes of the new fund.

“We are at a scale where we can choose our battles and have a positive impact,” says Court. “I often say the way we practice venture capital that the money-making part is a byproduct of backing distinctive, attractive and authentic businesses.”

Court founded Felix Capital in 2015 after working for nearly two decades at Advent Venture Partners, where he led investments in Dailymotion, Zong, and Ubiquisys. The French investor had started his career at investment bank Lazard before co-founding a short-lived textile marketplace startup. “We could see the scale of change but many of these changes took a decade or two decades,” says Court.

Former PayPal and Meta exec David Marcus worked with Court on Zong, which he founded, and his new crypto venture Lightspark. “He has always been very in tune with the brands of the future, and the trends that will become mainstream over time,’ says Marcus, who oversaw Facebook Messenger and Meta’s stalled Libra cryptocurrency project. “He was not only a great investor and board member but was my advisor as we pivoted the business and eventually sold it to Paypal.”

The fund has also brought on board María Auersperg de Lera, who had previously worked at Mosaic Ventures and Balderton Capital, and Sophie Luck, formerly of the venture arm of German media group Hubert Burda, as investors. Felix has also bolstered its advisor team with Maria Raga, Depop CEO, GoFundMe CMO Musa Tariq and Branko Milutinović, founder and CEO of gaming app developer Nordeus.