Anna Ohlsson-Baskerville is a director at Unilever Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Anglo-Dutch consumer goods manufacturer Unilever. She joined the unit in 2003 after nearly a decade in VC and financial advisory.
She focuses on digital beauty and personal care investment opportunities, sourcing and carrying out deals and manages the portfolio companies at a board level.
Unilever Ventures’ third fund was launched in 2014 and its thesis was to concentrate on digital and enabling technologies. As e-commerce was changing the fast-moving consumer goods scene, brands are interacting more directly with consumers, Ohlsson-Baskerville told Women in eCommerce.
She was quoted as saying: “We have backed some amazing entrepreneurs, and I work with exciting brands such as Trinny London in the UK and True Botanicals in the US, both of which are digitally native brands that live and breathe through their e-commerce and social communities.
“I have huge respect for e-commerce companies that truly make the most of the insights they can get from their cohort data – the companies that crunch the numbers and continually test, evaluate, learn and adapt. Never before were brands able to see so quickly the impact small changes can have on conversion rates, loyalty or purchase basket.”
Ohlsson-Baskerville had previously been involved in Unilever Ventures investments such as US-based beauty treatment technology developer Iluminage Beauty, Sweden-based fruit smoothie brand Froosh and UK-based antibody developer VHsquared.
She is currently a board director of Sweden-based hair care provider Sachajuan, UK-based liquid repellent nano-coating technology developer P2i Limited and UK-based transition metal-based catalyst producer Catexel and an observer role at enterprise content marketing platform Percolate Industries.
Regarding the trend in e-commerce, she told Women in eCommerce: “Given my focus on beauty and personal care, I am also very interested in seeing how social commerce develops…the rise of community and influencer-based sales models powered by technologies.
“We are seeing some very adventurous and experimental companies out there. It is an exciting and dynamic landscape. At the end of the day, the consumer is the fundamental driver of these changes. In today’s environment, they are looking for communities of like-minded people and personalised recommendations from people they trust.”
A native of Sweden, Ohlsson-Baskerville lived in France for 12 years and holds a finance and business management degree from ESSEC Business School.
