Stride Fund II Builds on a Growing Movement of Founder-Led Passion Brands
Boston, MA, September 30, 2026 — Stride Consumer Partners LLC (“Stride” or the “Firm”), a growth-equity investment firm that focuses on passion brands in consumer products and services, today announced the final close of its second fund, Stride Consumer Fund II (the “Fund”), with $550 million of capital commitments, bringing the Firm’s total assets under management to approximately $1.3 billion. The Fund was oversubscribed and reached its hard cap, closing 30 percent larger than Stride’s debut fund, which closed in 2022 with $420 million against a $300 million target. The Fund II raise was completed in approximately four months, driven largely by returning Stride limited partners who re-upped at increased commitment levels, alongside new institutional investors and founders and executives the team has partnered with previously.
“When we raised our first fund, we drove an RV 4,400 miles across the Midwest and the East Coast, meeting investors outside in parking lots and backyards because all conference rooms in the country were closed due to the pandemic. This time around, we didn’t need the van. Many of those same road-trip investors are supporting Stride in Fund II, including several founders we backed along the way,” said Tim Burke, Founding Member and Partner at Stride. “We believe this is a powerful signal of the conviction behind what we’re building and the opportunity ahead. We’re grateful for the support and energized to put this capital to work alongside the next generation of passion brands,” added Burke.
Stride partners with founders and management teams building lasting, category-defining brands across four consumer verticals: Beauty & Personal Care, Food & Beverage, Active lifestyle, and Multi-Unit Services. The firm’s Partners have invested together for decades and are supported by a bench of Operating Partners who bring direct executive experience to portfolio management teams, a structure Stride views as central to its differentiation in the growth-equity landscape.
“What sets Stride apart is their support. When we hit meaningful inflection points around strategic planning, amplifying brand and marketing, and scaling our direct-to-consumer channel, they showed up with people who had decades of experience in exactly the areas where we needed a thought partner, well beyond the P&L and the balance sheet” said Brian Ciciora, Co-Founder and Chairman of Truewerk. “They leaned in with guidance and team building support the moment we asked and had the wisdom to get out of the way when we didn’t. That’s a rare balance, and it’s what true partnership looks like,” added Ciciora.
Kimberly Villatoro, CEO of Patrick Ta Beauty, added: “As a brand with makeup artistry at its core, Patrick Ta Beauty is building a next generation artistry brand, and the team at Stride deeply understood that vision and have proven to be partners who are just as invested in our growth as they are in achieving that ambition. Since the beginning, Stride helped us drive forward the initiatives that mattered most, including building our team, amplifying our marketing activity, developing our supply chain and operations strategy to support our growth, and deepening what we’d started with Sephora, all while furthering what makes people fall in love with this brand in the first place.”
To date, Stride has had the pleasure of partnering with the founders and executive teams of skinfix, Chomps, Truewerk, Patrick Ta, Odele Beauty, Serenity Kids, Peachy, Crown Affair, and most recently, a new investment that has yet to be announced. These investments reflect Stride’s strategy of partnering with visionary leaders and changemakers who create a differentiated and lasting connection with their customers via extraordinary brands and services.
Campbell Lutyens acted as placement agent and Latham & Watkins, LLP served as legal adviser to Stride on the Fund II close.