Meghan Invests In Female Led Santa Barbara Start Up Clevr Blends

It was confirmed today the Duchess of Sussex has invested in a female-founded startup based in the Sussexes' home of Santa Barbara. Meghan reached out to the team behind super latte brand Clevr Blends after trying the company's oat milk latte. The Duchess told Fortune: "This investment is in support of a passionate female entrepreneur who prioritizes building community alongside her business. I’m proud to invest in Hannah’s commitment to sourcing ethical ingredients and creating a product that I personally love and has a holistic approach to wellness. I believe in her and I believe in her company."

Fortune reports:

'Wellness has long been an interest of Meghan's; she often wrote about the wellness space when she ran a now-shuttered lifestyle blog called The Tig. Meghan reached out to the Clevr team after trying the company's oat-milk latte product, which debuted through a Santa Barbara, California pop-up coffee shop in 2017. The Southern California-based business is headquartered near Montecito, California, where Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, moved earlier this year.

A representative for the duchess declined to disclose the size of her investment, which wasn't part of any kind of larger funding round. The brand, which has six staff members, has until now been self-funded. Clevr plans to use the investment to scale its business, which currently sells four different kinds of instant lattes retailing for $28, as well as a milk frother and travel mug. The brand has also committed donating 1% of revenue to organizations fighting for food justice in the U.S., money that is currently going to Santa Barbara's El Centro SB, a mutual aid and community organization.'

Fortune also revealed that -- astoundingly -- female-founded companies received only 2.7% venture capital funding in 2019.

An interesting piece from Forbes on the topic:

"Investing in startups with at least one female founder makes economic sense," observed Pam Kostka, CEO at All Raise. All Raise's mission is to accelerate the success of female founders and funders. "We have better outcomes when the funders and founders are reflective of the markets they serve." Companies with a female founder performed 63% better than investments with all-male founding teams. Businesses founded by women deliver twice as much per dollar invested than those founded by men. Despite being less likely to raise follow-on funding, founder teams with women are more likely to exit and have a higher internal rate of return (IRR) — 112% versus 48%. 

Gender diversity delivered higher returns and a lower risk of failure than all-male private equity buyout teams. Companies with women on their founding teams provide faster routes to exit and the number of exits for these companies is growing at a quicker rate than for companies with only male founders."

Clevr Brands CEO Hannah Mendoza said, "Entrepreneurs need funding, but they also need advisers who care deeply about what they are building. "I’m grateful to have found both in the Duchess of Sussex. Her passion for what we're creating is palpable, and I couldn't imagine a more aligned partnership. We're excited for the road ahead."

Clevr Brands got another injection of star power last night when Oprah shared a video of a gift basket of goods sent to her by "her neighbor M". She described the lattes as her "new drink of choice for morning and night". Of course, Oprah and Harry are working together on a mental health series we'll be hearing more about in the coming months. I think a show of support like this from Oprah is indicative of the close bond she shares with the Sussexes.

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The brand's ethos is a great fit for Meghan.

The business offers a limited number of products as it's in its infancy, but I expect that to change after today. Products on offer include Matcha, Chai, Golden and Coffee lattes. The Coffee is described as, "All energy, no jitters. Organic Arabica coffee from a co-operative in Colombia that funds sustainability programs in its communities." Click here to visit the website.

It's an incredibly exciting time for Hannah and the Clevr Blends team. Being in the UK and witnessing the continuing coverage of the couple over here, I wanted to note the stark difference in the US. They are being covered thus far by reputable outlets such as Fortune, New York Times and CNN on the merit of their efforts -- without a toxic atmosphere and the relentless smear campaign we've all watched with great disappointment,. As Meghan herself said last year, she never expected life within the Royal family to be easy but she thought it would be fair. They are now getting a fair shot in their new home and that must be a source of enormous relief to both of them.

As I was about to hit publish, Harper's Bazaar revealed Meghan and Harry were the most tweeted about royals this year -- followed by the Queen and Princess Diana. A key focus for them next year will be harnessing the enormous global interest in them and making their own impact in the social media sphere while striving to create kinder online communities. As they both know, the intensity of this interest can lend itself to a 'free for all' situation whereby trolls share vitriolic abuse, often without as much as a suspension of their accounts. It's going to be fascinating to see the Sussexes' work in this space.