Imaginary Ventures invests in what it calls generationally-defining consumer businesses and select enabling technology companies, spanning direct-to-consumer brands in fashion, beauty, food and wellness plus the commerce infrastructure behind them. The firm was founded in 2018 by Dame Natalie Massenet, who founded luxury etailer Net-a-Porter in 2000 and built it into a billion dollar business, and Nick Brown, previously a partner at 14W Venture Partners where he backed Glossier, Warby Parker and The RealReal. Based in New York, Imaginary launched with a $75 million first fund in 2018, raised a $160 million second fund announced in December 2020, and in April 2022 announced a $500 million Fund III across early and late stage vehicles, taking the firm to $1 billion in assets under management four years after launch. The portfolio includes SKIMS, Glossier, Mejuri, Daily Harvest, Reformation, GlossGenius, ShiftSmart and Stripe, and the firm counts Farfetch, Reformation and NuOrder among its exits. Imaginary differentiates on operator experience in brand building and retail rather than generalist software investing, pairing Massenet's three decades in consumer trends with Brown's early-stage consumer track record, and it invests from seed through growth in both North America and Europe.
Farfetch, which the firm lists among its exits, went public on the NYSE in 2018 and was later taken over by Coupang.