Why we invested in Verity Packaging
Today, we are thrilled to announce Crescent Ridge lead investment in Verity Packaging, deepening our preexisting relationship with Kerri Leslie that started in 2019 and formally began a little over a year ago when we invested in Verity’s pre-seed round. We first met Kerri when she went through our Ad Astra Ventures Bootcamp, during which we were impressed by her leadership and positivity. Over the last year, we’ve been repeatedly inspired by the strong business and team Kerri is building. Here are some (of the many) reasons why we love Verity:
The plastic problem that Verity is tackling is one that we are obsessed about. Plastics are not only polluting our oceans and precious nature, once they enter the environment, they end up breaking down into small microplastics that go into our food, the air we breathe, and water systems. These minuscule plastic pieces are affecting our endocrine systems making us sick and infertile which poses an existential threat to future generations. In addition, research shows that plastic is constantly off-gassing methane when sitting in waterways and poorly managed landfills. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25x more potent than CO2.
Verity represents the type of mission-driven company that we love to work with. In every investment we make, we look for a strong foundation in these four areas: 1) Financial 2) Intellectual 3) Social 4) Relational. We call this framework 4D Wealth. Verity outperforms in all of them 1) Strong, capital efficient business with outstanding growth and financial performance 2) innovative solution and approach in an overlooked industry 3) on a mission to make the world a better place 4) knitting meaningful relationships and creating a strong community along the way (with their customers, suppliers, employees, and other industry players).
Verity is set to revolutionize the packaging industry. Verity’s team carefully vets its materials and surface treatment through a team of independent scientists, to deliver not only the most sustainable but also the safest non-toxic packaging option in the personal care industry. Metallic packaging is truly complex to manufacture at a high and cost-effective scale. Kerri has a background in medical devices, manufacturing metal components that go inside our human bodies. That experience allowed Verity to raise the standard to develop high quality and safe packaging solutions for personal care products
Verity is not just a supplier; Verity is set to be the go-to solution for CPG’s sustainability needs. Verity has big plans to shift the way the industry thinks about sustainability in a holistic way. Verity not only thinks about plastic waste, but also emissions, water usage, energy consumption, recyclability, etc. Verity has a big vision to bring education on sustainability, benchmarks, advice and data for their customers. We were delighted to see Verity customers’ strong testimonials. These brands love Verity, they have a strong partnership and are driven by a common purpose to make a good difference in the world.
We feel extremely lucky for this partnership with Kerri and her outstanding team at Verity. We look forward to watching them grow their business as they change the packaging industry for good!
