*Agenda*

Opening discussion with James Greenfield: “2018 in Brands, what have we learned? What’s next?”

James is the Creative Director and Co-founder of branding agency Koto. Working at the intersection of brand and digital his role covers design and strategy, working with some of the world’s best technology brands including Airbnb, DeepMind and Sonos. He started the agency in 2015 with co-founders Jowey and Caroline. The company operates in three studios in Berlin, London and Los Angeles. Prior to founding Koto, he has 17 years of experience working at some of London’s leading studios, for the world’s biggest brands. In 2013, as Executive Creative Director at DesignStudio, James led the rebrand of tech giant Airbnb.

Panel discussion, moderated by Deepka Rana: Does Brand Mean Community?

JP, Allplants

JP is founder of plant based meal delivery service allplants. From their kitchen in London they use bold flavours and hyper convenience to bring more plants onto plates across the UK, inspiring us all to eat healthy and nourish the planet - delivering chef-made meals nationwide.

Since launching their digitally-native direct to consumer service in early 2017 they've bagged culinary awards for pushing the boundaries (from BBQ pulled Jackfruit to hand-made mushroom + tomato polpette balls), delivering +250,000 healthy + delicious meals to doorsteps nationwide and building a community of +70,000 fans. JP is mad about gathering together brilliant people on a mission - previously launching both Africa's first mobile bank (M-Shwari), and Kenya's fastest growing retail healthcare chain (Penda) - and the allplants early founding team and angels have built an array of +£100M food, media and lifestyle brands and manufacturers, so together they're now driven to change the world for the better through great tasting plant-powered food.

Katie Marrache, JamJar Investments

Katie Marrache (née Leviten) is a general partner at leading seed-stage consumer fund JamJar. Katie began her career working for entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den investor James Caan, managing his portfolio of consumer investments. After training with the BBC in journalism and production and a spell there, she joined the Commercial team at Innocent Drinks. In 2013 the 3 innocent founders sold innocent to CocaCola for $500m+ to focus on venture capital investing full time and took Katie with them. She was made (Europe’s youngest female VC) partner in 2016. Katie’s investments at JamJar include Deliveroo, Babylon Health, Bulb Energy and Tails.com.

Kirsty Macdonald, Bloom & Wild

Kirsty is the Head of Customer Experience at the UK's best-loved flower gifting brand, Bloom & Wild. As the second fastest growing startup in the UK, and fifth in EMEA, they're on a mission to make sending and receiving flowers a joyful experience from start to finish. They launched in 2013, bringing the unique Letterbox flowers format to market, and solving the very real problem of recipients not always being at home to receive fresh flowers. Bloom & Wild is focused on innovating the experience across the board, from a personalised range selection to delivering best-in-class Customer Delight (what they call Customer Service). Having started as Marketing Manager in the very early days of Bloom & Wild, and then eventually taking over the Customer Experience function, Kirsty believes strongly in the power of listening and responding to customers in order to drive constant iteration and innovation.

Alexis Cuddyre, Aday

Alexis is a VP of Brand and Creative at ADAY, a fast growing direct-to-consumer brand creating consciously designed, versatile staples. The company is on a mission to create a new standard for clothing, using technical fabrics, a conscious supply chain as well as innovative production processes. Before joining Aday, Alexis spent six years at Digit, a brand consultancy based in London and co-founded a fashion tech startup.

Katie JamJar

Kirsty Bloom&Wild

Alexis ADAY

Followed by: Networking & refreshments!

Your hosts for the evening:

Deepka Rana, Investment Associate at Sunstone Capital

At Sunstone, Deepka focuses on consumer investments, including DTC brands and digital health. Previously, Deepka spent three years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Investment Banking Division in London where she worked within the Technology, Media and Telecommunications team, advising clients on M&A and financing processes. Deepka holds a BSc in Physics from Imperial College London.

Lola Wajskop, Investment Associate at Hummingbird Ventures

Lola is an investment associate at Hummingbird Ventures, investing across the world in early-stage tech startups and developing a strong interest in consumer products and brands. Lola holds a Masters in Management from London Business School and a MSc. in Electronics and IT Engineering. During her studies, Lola founded Yes She Can, a social impact initiative to attract more female candidates to engineering studies.

Deepka Sunstone

Lola

Header photo credit: Scottie Cameron

Consumer Brands: A Discussion with Tech Entrepreneurs and Investors