- Phenomenon announced it received a strategic major investment from Berggruen and Sleeping Bear
Phenomenon — a leading business transformation agency offering deep expertise across a range of disciplines like business & strategic consulting and creative design — announced a strategic majority investment from Los Angeles-based Berggruen Holdings and San Francisco-based Sleeping Bear Capital.
“This is a first-of-its-kind partnership between Berggruen and Sleeping Bear Capital to leverage a platform like Phenomenon as a revolutionary and creative business model focused on action, not just ads,” said Phenomenon CEO and founder Krishnan Menon. “We believe we’ve cracked the code on the ‘agency of the future’ through our seamless integration of communications, creative, design, product development, and brand strategy.”
Berggruen Holdings is the investment vehicle of The Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust. And Sleeping Bear Capital is a founder-first private equity firm that invests in business unit spinouts and venture-backed technology companies founded by long-time entrepreneur and private equity investor Ranvir Gujral
Both of these firms’ initial investment in the creative consulting category will be a catalyst for add-on acquisitions of companies offering social marketing, AI-based marketing tools, and strategic media planning that would be integrated under the Phenomenon umbrella. And these acquisitions will be used for elevating, expanding and substantiating the company’s creative transformation offerings.
“We are excited to be partnering with Phenomenon to build the next generation change management platform,” added Koonal Gandhi — the chief investment officer at Berggruen Holdings. “As long-term private equity investors, we believe that the need for brand transformation services is more critical than ever before. We plan to use Phenomenon’s unique platform as the base of several acquisitions to come.”
Launched in 2006, Phenomenon partners with clients for defining unexpected pathways to success. And its current clients include Crate and Barrel, CB2, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros., Stash Tea, KB Home, Pepsi, PetSmart, Procter & Gamble, American Express, Aetna, Providence St Joseph Health, TD Ameritrade, and Quibi.
“Phenomenon is one of the very few companies we’ve come across that has the creativity and tools to authentically and powerfully transform the brands of tomorrow,” explained Gujral. “This arsenal is exciting for us as it is essential to affecting change across rapidly evolving business landscapes. As established brands look to keep pace with culture and as new challenger brands look to find their place in the world, Phenomenon’s caliber of integrated offerings will be in high demand.”
