Client Stories

Piper

Investing to build brand legends

Piper Private Equity helps founders build global brands that make people’s lives healthier, happier and more fulfilling while supporting them to minimise their impact on the environment.

A newly certified B Corp and a signatory of the Better Business Act, Piper invest in fast-growing brands with sales of £5-50 million.

With a mix of investors, brand strategists, digital innovators, talent and culture experts, Piper have helped 50+ brands across 70 countries, from Boden to Mindful Chef to Proper Corn.

B Corp

Key Information

Service
B Corp

Industry
Financial Services

Size
10+ Employees

25%

A recent McKinsey study revealed that 25% of investors would pay a 20-50% premium for a company with a positive ESG record.

Leading PE firms to prioritise ESG performance significantly to impact their company’s long-term value and resilience.

Challenge

“When faced with the incredibly thorough B Corp assessment we found Seismic’s guidance invaluable, having a B Leader to help us not only get it right but see more and more changes we could make, took the process from daunting to exciting.”

Georgia Jones
Marketing and Sustainability Manager at Piper Private Equity

Challenge

Supporting a portfolio of growing brands on their sustainability strategies

Piper decided to investigate B Corp after being influenced by brands in their investment portfolio that were huge advocates of the B Corp movement. They wanted to use B Corp’s assessment tool to determine any improvements they could make themselves.

Piper see value in B Corp beyond a certification ‘badge’, in the structure of the B Corp assessment and the focus on positive business practices. It showed them they could achieve much more impact than they thought.

Piper wanted to share their learnings and inspire their portfolio companies to do better, so they chose to partner with Seismic, ESG experts who could also help their brands.

Approach

Approach

Partnering with Seismic to coach Sustainability Champions

Piper’s support for their portfolio brands involved a sustainability coaching strategy. They collaborated with Seismic to develop a bespoke course of online clinics on key topics, including:

Net Zero and carbon offsetting
The business case for sustainability
Measuring social impact
The benefits of B Corp

These clinics are offered to brand representatives across Piper’s portfolio, including board-level decision makers, to ensure sustainability champions have a seat at the decision-making table.

Participating brands from Piper’s portfolio represented a broad spectrum of sectors, from tech, to consumer goods, to travel and hospitality.

Impact

One of the great benefits of working with Seismic is their depth of knowledge and ability to help you to understand exactly what the B Impact Assessment is asking for and how this translates to your business.

Yasha Estraikh
Associate Partner at Piper Private Equity

Impact

Brands equipped to make strategic decisions as they grow

Through their B Corp journey, Piper have become true advocates, using their influence to educate and inspire brands. They work hard to spread awareness of the value of B Corp, advising any brands wanting to receive investment to give the B Corp assessment a go, irrespective of certification.

Piper encourage companies to join a community and act together, which makes it less daunting to improve business practices. In doing so, they are attracting what they refer to as “the best businesses” – those interested in long-term decision-making and resilience – to their investment portfolio.

Piper have received a hugely positive response to the news of their certification – they submitted their B Corp assessment in March 2021 and were thrilled to announce their success in becoming B Corp certified in October 2022.

Since beginning their sustainability journey in 2016 against a backdrop of pressure from their peers, key stakeholders and European sustainability finance disclosure regulation, all of which Piper welcome, their confidence in communicating their sustainability story and initiatives through the inspirational framework of B Corp has grown.