France-based luxury goods producer LVMH has established a corporate venturing fund called LVMH Luxury Ventures that will invest in early-stage luxury consumer startups, Reuters reported on Friday.
The firm has provided LVMH Luxury Ventures with €50m ($54m) of capital, and it will be led by Julie Bercovy, LVMH’s deputy head of mergers and acquisitions.
The fund will back high-end fashion, cosmetics and accessories startups with an annual turnover between €2m and €5m, investing €2m and €10m in each one.
An LVMH spokesperson told Reuters: “The aim is to accompany financially the development of these small nuggets to create value.”
The move comes roughly a year after LVMH joined private equity firm Catterton and Groupe Arnault, the family holding company of LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault, to combine their private equity holdings into a single entity dubbed L Catterton.
LVMH has not so far been a major investor in early-stage companies but it does hold stakes in US-based luxury fashion retailer Moda Operandi and online fashion industry news portal The Business of Fashion.