{"id":44369,"date":"2020-11-25T05:07:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T00:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=2077984"},"modified":"2020-11-25T05:07:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T00:07:41","slug":"new-venture-firm-the-wolfpack-takes-a-fresh-approach-to-d2c-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/new-venture-firm-the-wolfpack-takes-a-fresh-approach-to-d2c-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"New venture firm The-Wolfpack takes a fresh approach to D2C startups"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The-Wolfpack\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

The-Wolfpack\u2019s co-founders, Toh Jin Wei, Tan Kok Chin and Simon Nichols (Image Credit: The-Wolfpack)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the consumer, leisure and media companies hard, but a new venture firm called The-Wolfpack<\/a> is still very upbeat on those sectors. Based in Singapore, the firm was founded by former managing directors at GroupM, one of the world\u2019s largest advertising and media companies, and plans to work very closely with each of its portfolio companies. Its name was chosen because they believe \u201centrepreneurs thrive best in a wolfpack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The-Wolfpack\u2019s debut fund, called the Wolfpack Pioneer VCC, is already fully subscribed at $5 million USD, and will focus on direct-to-consumer companies, with plans to invest in eight to 10 startups. The firm is already looking to raise a second fund, with a target of $20 million SGD (about $14.9 million USD) and above, and will set up another office in Thailand, with plans to expand into Indonesia as well.<\/p>\n

The-Wolfpack was founded by Toh Jin Wei and Simon Nichols, who met while working at GroupM, and Tan Kok Chin, a former director at Sunray Woodcraft Construction who has worked on projects with Marina Bay Sands, Raffles Hotel and the Singapore Tourism\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

In addition to providing financial capital, The-Wolfpack wants to build ecosystems around its portfolio companies by connecting them with IP owners, digital marketing experts, content producers and designers who can help create offline experiences. It also plans to invest in startups based on opportunities for them to collaborate or cross-sell with one another.<\/p>\n

Toh told TechCrunch that formal planning on The-Wolfpack began at the end of 2019, but he and Nichols started thinking of launching their own business five years ago while working together at GroupM.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur perspective on what the industry needed was similar \u2014 strategic investors who truly knew how to get behind D2C founders,\u201d Toh said.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact has hurt spending in The-Wolfpack\u2019s three key sectors (consumer, leisure and media). But it also presents opportunities for innovation as consumer habits shift, Nichols said.<\/p>\n

For example, even though consumer spending has dropped, people are still \u201cdrawn towards brands that build towards higher-quality engagements,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a real business advantage for D2C brands who\u2019ve recognized this shift and know how to act on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The-Wolfpack hasn\u2019t disclosed its investments yet since deals are still being finalized, but some of the brands its debut fund are interested in include one launched by an Australian makeup artist who wants to scale to Southeast Asia, and an online gaming company whose ecosystem includes original content, gaming teams and studios. The-Wolfpack plans to help them set up a physical studio to create an offline experience, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically brands have talked at customers, but it\u2019s become a two-way conversation, and startups who get D2C right have a real potential for exponential growth that\u2019s worth investing in,\u201d said Toh.<\/p>\n

By TechCrunch Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The-Wolfpack\u2019s co-founders, Toh Jin Wei, Tan Kok Chin and Simon Nichols (Image Credit: The-Wolfpack) The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the consumer, leisure and media companies hard, but a new venture firm called The-Wolfpack is still very upbeat on those sectors. Based in Singapore, the firm was founded by former managing directors at GroupM, one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14083],"tags":[14247,19776,19777,14280,19778,2090,1261,14268,231,14178,19779,14194,19780],"class_list":{"0":"post-44369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology-industry-news","7":"tag-asia","8":"tag-d2c","9":"tag-direct-to-consumer","10":"tag-fundings-exits","11":"tag-leisure","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-singapore","14":"tag-southeast-asia","15":"tag-startups","16":"tag-tc","17":"tag-the-wolfpack","18":"tag-venture-capital","19":"tag-venture-firm"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}