CAVU Consumer Partners

Consumer has challenged investors in recent years. That doesn’t mean the sector is broken. It means selectivity and discipline matter more than ever.   This week at SuperReturn West in our hometown of Los Angeles, CAVU Consumer Partners Managing Partner Brett Thomas joined Jared Stein of Monogram Capital Partners, Adam Waglay of Butterfly Equity, and Alisa Carmichael of VMG Partners to discuss why consumer remains an attractive investment opportunity, and what it takes to identify the winners.   Many of the sector’s disappointments share a familiar pattern: expensive entry valuations, growth at all costs, thin margins, and overreliance on a single distribution channel. That’s why we decline roughly 99% of the brands we see and continually sharpen our framework with every lesson learned.   A few themes from the conversation:   🔎 Real demand beats rented growth. We look for velocity, repeat purchasing, organic pull, and genuine community engagement—not growth driven primarily by new distribution or paid acquisition. 🌱 Wellness is becoming the lens through which consumers shop. With approximately 22% of U.S. households now including a GLP-1 user, and longevity increasingly top of mind, consumers are seeking products with clear, functional benefits across categories. 🤖 AI is an accelerant, but not the moat. AI is democratizing world-class content and helping consumers optimize their wellness routines. But when anyone can make a great ad, authentic connection becomes even more valuable. The winners will still be the brands that earn trust, inspire community, and gain permission to grow with their consumers. 💰 Quality is finding liquidity. The number of exits above $500 million in U.S. consumer non-durables grew nearly 50% from 2024 to 2025, with 2026 on pace to surpass last year. Buyers may be more selective, but there remains strong appetite for worthy assets.   Consumer tastes will keep changing. Technology will keep changing how brands are discovered and built. The enduring opportunity is identifying what doesn’t change: real needs, repeat behavior, trusted brands, and disciplined fundamentals.   Thank you to SuperReturn, our moderator Kris Cole and fellow panelists for a thoughtful and refreshingly candid conversation.

Women’s health isn’t a niche - it’s a major frontier in personalized health. WHOOP's integration with Natural Cycles expands the platform’s relevance across critical life stages and delivers meaningful value to one of its fastest-growing member communities. Proud to see WHOOP continue raising the bar!

CAVU Consumer Partners co-founders Brett Thomas and Rohan Oza recently joined Bloomberg’s The Close to discuss what it takes to build enduring consumer brands in today’s environment—and where the next wave of opportunity is taking shape. Brett shared CAVU’s perspective on the growing opportunity across longevity and functionality-led consumer products. Rohan unpacked the evolution of brand building, including why celebrity and creator partnerships are most powerful when they reflect authentic alignment rather than borrowed attention. The throughline: culture can accelerate awareness, and distribution can drive trial. But enduring brands are built on differentiated products, real consumer value, disciplined execution and the ability to keep people coming back. Thank you to Bloomberg Television and The Close for having us! Watch the full clip here: https://lnkd.in/g-gHFVT2

Proud to back 4AM as the brand launches Clean Sheets in 1,745 Target stores nationwide.   Facial wipes are one of mass beauty’s biggest categories — and one of its most overlooked. 4AM saw the whitespace and rebuilt the format from the ground up for today’s consumer. That’s the kind of category rethink we love to see!   Congrats to Jade Beguelin, Sabrina Sade, and the entire 4AM team.

When you want to cook Italian at home, a few iconic brands come to mind. But what about Indian? Despite being one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing cuisines, the at-home Indian category has long lacked a premium, category-defining brand. Gymkhana Fine Foods is changing that. Created by the team behind London’s two-Michelin-starred Gymkhana, Gymkhana Fine Foods brings that same culinary authority to the grocery aisle — rooted in tradition, defined by quality, and built to deliver restaurant-caliber Indian flavor at home. CAVU Consumer Partners is thrilled to deepen its partnership with Gymkhana Fine Foods and lead its $8.5M Series A as the brand expands into the U.S. with a nationwide launch at Whole Foods Market. Excited to keep having fun building with Gulrez, Jyotin, Karam, JKS Restaurants, and the entire GFF team!

We’re excited to lead the Seed round in Crazy Mountain, a new non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman. We spend a lot of time looking at markets where consumer demand has already shifted but brand leadership is still up for grabs. Non-alcoholic beer is one of those spaces. We believe the next generation of great consumer brands will be built around how people actually want to live, and Crazy Mountain is tapping into that in a way that feels timely and differentiated. What drew us in was simple: a strong product, a clear brand instinct, and a real opportunity to help shape an emerging category. Excited to partner with the founding team and alongside Coatue Management as Crazy Mountain enters the market. More in Inc. Magazine: https://lnkd.in/gj3bbn6Z

Congrats to SkinnyDipped on such an amazing event during Miami Music Week! So much of great brand building is about creating moments that people genuinely want to be part of, and this felt like one of them. Beautifully done, well executed, and a great reflection of the energy around the brand right now. Huge shoutout to the SkinnyDipped team, and thank you to our partners and hosts Brooks Nader, Rohan Oza, Breezy Griffith, We Are BMF, David Grutman, and CAVU’s very own UNCOMMON team Stevie Clements Ava McDonald for helping bring it all together.

Congratulations to Will Ahmed the entire team at WHOOP. Proud to be partners on the journey and to see the continued strength and momentum of the brand. We’ve long believed human performance products will become true “need-to-haves,” and WHOOP has been early in defining and leading this category. Excited to watch the team keep building and pushing it forward!

Congratulations to the Once Upon a Farm team on today’s NYSE listing 🌱🌟🙌🏼 – a milestone that reflects years of disciplined execution, founder-led vision, and an unwavering commitment to kids’ nutrition.  When we first invested in 2018, the opportunity was clear: parents were demanding better for their children, and fresh, transparent nutrition was underserved by legacy brands. What stood out just as much was the leadership. John Foraker brought the operating rigor and category experience to build a scaled, enduring business, while Jennifer Garner helped anchor the brand in authenticity, trust, and purpose. These are values that continue to resonate deeply with families. Eight years later, the team has turned that mission into a category-leading brand, raising the standard for what modern kids’ nutrition can be. We are proud to have partnered on the journey, and excited to see what they build next. (NYSE: OFRM)