FIGR’s mission was born out of the co-founders’ mutual passion for consumer products – from fashion and beauty to food and beverages – and concern for environmental and social issues worldwide, in some cases being exacerbated by the consumer sector.
Idealists picture a world where consumers reduce their purchases to the bare minimum. This purist thinking has driven many consumer businesses to sit at the extreme ends of the spectrum, with a feeling that they must choose between staying as a small kitchen-table business or scaling and becoming inherently “bad”.
Story
It all started with artisans.
Fiona and Ellie met at lifestyle media house Hearst UK. Tasked with creating the Small Business Partnerships team to monetise opportunities for artisans across e-commerce, events and media space, they started to think about what high-potential small consumer businesses really need to grow, and what this growth could look like if businesses and investors considered people, planet and profit.
Around the same time, Fiona was beginning to develop the philanthropic strategy for the family office, and had started to explore how philanthropy and investment could combine to maximise social and environmental impact.
Mission
We back the founders redefining life’s everyday choices.
FIGR invests in early-stage startups with the potential to shape consumer behaviour. We take a two-pronged approach to impact, by backing responsible for-profit organisations via FIGR and supporting non-profit organisations via the Harrington Foundation.
We invest in three types of changemaker:
- Switchers: Switchers disrupt the consumer sector with exciting alternatives to existing goods. Responsible products people want to use.
- Enablers: Enablers support consumers and businesses to make responsible choices. Tools and resources enabling everyone to do better.
- Solvers: Solvers create solutions to unsolved issues affecting consumers’ lives. Tackling real problems for real people.
Approach
We won’t redefine life’s everyday choices overnight.
We don’t work to typical venture capital timelines, because we believe driving real change takes time. We also believe bringing investors on board is about much more than funding - we want to be the first investor our founders call if they need support or have exciting news to share! We provide a non-judgemental thinking partnership, expertise from our team and advisors, and introductions to our wider network.
We typically invest up to £300k of patient capital at pre-seed and seed stage.
We invest in businesses…
- Shaping the consumer sector as a switcher, enabler or solver
- With a responsible social and environmental approach
- Based in the UK or Europe
- Generating revenue (although we’re open to investing in pre-revenue businesses in rare circumstances)
- With innovative and passionate founders at the helm who we believe will scale the business effectively
- Confident that funding from FIGR will help to achieve their goals (investment isn’t right for everyone!)
Values
- We make a difference: We’re here to drive positive environmental and social change, so we look at all prospective investments through the lens of their impact. We also partner with The Harrington Foundation as we believe combining philanthropic grants and investing for impact is the best way to make a difference.
- We do the right thing: FIGR has a strong moral compass. Although we want our investments to make a great return, we will not compromise on our commitment to make a difference. We act with integrity, compassion and respect.
- We take risks: We have the confidence to be brave, as we know this is the only way to make a change. We prioritise potential over experience and take chances on great people. We’re open to leading rounds, investing before institutional funders and funding first-time founders.
- We say what we mean: In an industry rife with complicated jargon and lengthy processes, we choose clarity. We want everyone we work with to know exactly where they stand. We’re transparent and straightforward, and we communicate our decisions quickly – founders are too busy to be left in the lurch!