Founder Stories

Hear directly from the founders of several Pembroke portfolio companies as they share their journeys and the stories behind building their businesses into what they are today.

Bags, B Corp and a Big Idea: Troubadour’s Story

Samuel Bail and Abel Samet left careers in finance to build Troubadour Goods, a London-based brand making minimalist bags and accessories designed to perform. Troubadour’s growth snowballed. Today the brand holds B Corp certification and has been ranked by the Telegraph, the New York Times, and more as the best work backpack. That kind of […]

Serve First

Founded by Erol Ayvaz, Serve First is an AI-driven customer experience and feedback management platform that collects and analyses customer feedback from sources such as in-store surveys, online reviews and mystery shoppers.

Smartify

Smartify, Co-Founded by Anna Lowe and Thanos Kokkinitis, is a platform that utilises AI and augmented reality to produce immersive and multilingual museum tours. Customers are able to input the their desired duration and interests, which enables Smartify to produce a personalised tour.

Ro&Zo

Ro&Zo, the womenswear brand founded by Rosie Bowden and Zoe de Abreu in the wake of the pandemic, aims to fill a gap left by the closure of several high street retailers. They set out to create stylish, confidence-boosting clothing for women, combining trend-led design with responsible production and a focus on quality. What sets […]

With Nothing Underneath

Pembroke Founder Series: With Nothing Underneath What does it take to build a modern heritage womenswear brand? In our latest Founder Series, Pip Durell, former Tatler Editor and Vogue Stylist shares her journey from fashion editor to the founder of With Nothing Underneath (WNU) – the brand redefining women’s shirting. Founded in 2017 by Pip Durell, former […]

Transreport

Transreport is a SaaS platform and mobile app which provides a comprehensive solution for booking and managing travel assistance for older and disabled individuals. The platform aims to simplify the process of arranging assistance for these passengers, saving time, and ensuring compliance for transport operators. Founded in 2016 with a simple vision to democratise transport, […]

Secret Food Tours

Founded in 2013 by friends Nico Jacquart and Oliver Mernick-Levene, Secret Food Tours helps travellers discover the best bites in destinations all over the world. Since we invested in 2018, the business has grown exponentially. The food and beverage tour company has developed a scalable and profitable business model and now operates in over 65 […]

LYMA

We recently spoke with Lucy Goff, founder of LYMA, a pioneering brand in the wellness industry. In 2018, LYMA launched the world’s most advanced supplement, heralding a new era for the industry. The LYMA ecosystem has continued to evolve since Pembroke’s initial investment in 2018, with the creation of the world’s most powerful at-home laser […]

COAT

COAT was launched in 2020 to address the issues associated with the $90bn legacy paint industry and meet the needs of a more contemporary consumer by focusing on quality, sustainability and customer experience. Taking advantage of the founders’ combined experience in the paint industry and consumer marketing business, COAT offers a range of hand-made-to-order paints […]

Popsa

We caught up with Popsa founders, Liam and Tom on how they started the successful photobook app in 2016 and grew the business to a team of 50+. Popsa is a photobook app that, through the use of proprietary machine learning algorithms, has reduced the time it takes for customers to produce photobooks from 2 […]

Plenish

Check out our interview with Plenish founder, Kara Rosen. We invested in Plenish in 2013 and sold our stake in the business in June 2021 for a 2.3x return. We talk to Kara about how she started the successful juice and nut milk brand and her challenges along the way.

ME+EM

Check out our interview with ME+EM founder, Clare Hornby. The successful womenswear brand founder and mother of two talks about where she gets her inspiration from for her collections, how she incorporates family life into the brand and what it’s been like to work with Pembroke over the years.

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