ECP Growth Research
Investment Thesis
ECP Growth (formerly Emil Capital Partners) is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based growth-stage investment firm founded in 2011 in partnership with the Tengelmann Group, a 150-year-old, family-owned German consumer holding company. In May 2025 the firm rebranded from Emil Capital Partners to ECP Growth alongside the close of its fourth fund, signaling a strategic shift from early-stage consumer investing toward growth-stage businesses across the entire consumer value chain, including both B2C and B2B companies. ECP takes a thematic approach, targeting resilient categories with attractive growth fundamentals rather than chasing trend-driven categories. The firm organizes its thesis around three macro themes: Mobility (strengthening community resilience and how people and goods move), Energy & Resource Efficiency (optimizing resource use and reducing waste in the home and in business), and Health & Wellness (improving how food and products are grown, delivered, and consumed, and advancing health and nutrition).
Sector Focus
Within those themes, ECP names nine specific investment categories on its site: Accessible Nutrition, Cognitive & Microbiome Health, Pet Wellness & Care, Home Redefined, Holistic Health Tech, Health for Her, Digitized Path to Purchase, Supply Chain Optimization, and AgeTech. In practice this spans functional food and beverage, gut-health and microbiome diagnostics, pet supplements and wellness platforms, clean beauty and home self-care, health wearables and diagnostics, women's health, AI-enabled commerce and personalized shopping, supply-chain automation (AI, robotics, IoT), and technology for aging in place.
Stage Focus
ECP Growth is explicitly a growth-stage investor, not an early-stage or seed fund (its earlier fund vehicles under the Emil Capital Partners name did back earlier-stage consumer brands, which explains legacy portfolio names like Uber and Klarna). With Fund IV, the firm targets companies already generating more than $10 million in revenue and demonstrating a clear path to profitability within roughly 18 months.
Check Size
Fund IV, closed in May 2025 with $100 million in committed capital, targets investments of $5 million to $20 million per company.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. ECP has led or co-led several recent rounds directly (NextFoods' $10M Series 3, Shipday's $7M Series A alongside Ibex Investors), but it has also participated as part of syndicates led by other firms, such as Freestyle's $10M Series A led by Silas Capital and ILS Gummies' growth partnership led by Edgehill Management alongside Patriot Capital and Providence Investment Partners.
Recent Activity
Fund IV is actively deploying. Recent moves include: Freestyle (diapers and wipes), Series A, March 2026; ILS Gummies (nutraceutical gummy manufacturing), strategic growth partnership, February 2026; NextFoods (functional wellness beverages), $10M Series 3 led by ECP, December 2025; Shipday (AI-powered last-mile delivery software for SMBs), $7M Series A co-led with Ibex Investors, November 2025. Portfolio company BiomeSense (gut microbiome testing) also raised a $7M round in October 2025. ECP was named to Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors List for the third consecutive year in 2025.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio spans more than 30 companies. Notable exits include Uber, Klarna, Bare Snacks (acquired by PepsiCo), BrightFarms, Chefs Plate (acquired by HelloFresh), TCHO, Ollie, Whistle, GiftFly, A Dozen Cousins, and Minus Works. Active portfolio highlights include Aloha (protein/nutrition bars, three-time Inc. 5000 honoree), American Giant (American-made apparel manufacturing), Volition Beauty, Zeel (on-demand massage), Murphy's Naturals, milk + honey (spa/wellness), Kidfresh, Farmside Kitchen, Renewal Mill, Pomelo, PetFriendly, Les Lunes, Salted, and Thesis (personalized nootropics).
Team
- Andreas Guldin — Chairman & Co-Founder. Former CFO of Breuninger and Chief Strategy Officer at A&P; PhD in Economics, MA in Psychology.
- Marcel Bens — Chief Executive Officer.
- Morgan Ratcliffe — Managing Director.
- Jeff Emmons — Director.
- Marie-Li Haub — Director; also a Tengelmann family equity investor.
- Marissa Foray — Director, Strategy & Research (press contact: [email protected]).
- Tyler Coppola — Vice President.
- Sonia Gadkari — Associate.
- Olivia Hollidge — Associate.
- Werner Stuetz — Chief Financial Officer.
- Melissa Houston — Finance Director.
- Soeren Eisenbeiss — Fund Controller.
- Mariyeta Kaljaj — Fund Controller.
- Chrissy Farrell — Executive Assistant & Office Manager.
Decision Process
Partnership-based. The firm frames itself as a hands-on, operationally-involved partner rather than a passive capital source, and its deal team spans investment, strategy/research, and finance functions rather than a solo-GP structure.
Founder Preferences
ECP looks for founders of growth-stage consumer and consumer-adjacent B2B businesses already past product-market fit (>$10M revenue) who want an investor that brings deep retail and consumer-behavior operating expertise, backed by the permanent capital and consumer-holding-company heritage of the Tengelmann Group. Portfolio founder testimonials emphasize ECP's willingness to be a genuine operating partner, including support during downturns (Zeel, during the pandemic) and ongoing strategic and go-to-market involvement (Ollie, milk + honey, Volition Beauty).
Geographic Focus
North America, with the firm itself based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and portfolio companies concentrated in the US.