Fashion's fairy godparents

Andrew Rosen

Fairy godfather to:

Proenza Schouler, Alice + Olivia, Rag & Bone, Kiki de Montparnasse and Gryphon

Andrew Rosen has a stellar CV. The New York industry legend and champion of the city's Garment District is chief executive of Theory and Helmut Lang, as well as group senior vice-president of Japanese parent company Fast Retailing. But over the years Rosen, whose father was himself a Seventh Avenue fashion doyen, has also built up a formidable portfolio of private investments in fledgling US brands, funnelling $10m into emerging designers such as Rag & Bone, Proenza Schouler and Alice + Olivia, which collectively generate sales of more than $300m. He also holds minority stakes in Aiko, Gryphon and Kiki de Montparnasse.

Frequently accompanied by his son, Austin, Rosen never takes a larger ownership stake than his design partners, and is often touted as the first to identify a gap for accessibly priced contemporary brands. He believes the key to building a business is maintaining a brand's uniqueness by keeping the creatives at its heart.

"These companies need more than just money," Rosen told the FT in 2013. "They need founders and visionaries who can build the business in an ever-changing marketplace; they need a good leader."

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Carmen Busquets

Fairy godmother to:

Lyst, Moda Operandi, Merchantry, Astley Clarke and CoutureLab among others

As a founding investor in Net-a-Porter, Venezuelan fashion entrepreneur turned financier Carmen Busquets was a trailblazer in the fashion-tech space when it emerged more than a decade ago. "I never invested in Net-a-Porter with the thought that I would be one of the major investors but since nobody believed in internet companies after 2000, it turned out that I had to be the major investor because I was the only one to believe in it," she says.

Partly using the proceeds from the sale of the luxury fashion site to Richemont in 2010, Busquets has gone on to invest more than £12m in fashion-tech companies including Lyst, Moda Operandi, Merchantry, Astley Clarke and CoutureLab via her investment fund Cabus Ventures.

Unlike venture capital firms, which shower start-ups with tens of millions of pounds, bestowing colossal valuations on young companies, Busquets invests small quantities as and when a company needs capital.

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"Why give a million dollars to someone if they have not proved that they can make a million dollars?" she told the FT in 2011. "I learnt this from my father, who would never give us more money than we could make. If I maxed out a credit card, he would cut it."

While Busquets feels that she can no longer "get so emotionally involved with founders at such an early stage of the business in the way I did with Natalie [Massenet of Net-a-Porter] - it was a risk, but I could afford getting involved at the time", she does still dispense advice to those seeking to make their way in the fashion-tech world.

And the unique selling point she looks for?

"Many companies fail because of a lack of a good team, not a lack of money or good ideas. If you're investing in the creative and technology sector, it's normal that the founders and their teams are creative people with innovative ideas.

"What is rare is to find a creative person who is also operational, and can execute the sometimes tedious, monotonous and complicated everyday tasks that will ensure the success of their business."

For Busquets, who lives in Barcelona, Miami and Switzerland but regularly spends time in London and New York where most of her investments are based, "the winning strategy in any start-up is 'think big but start small'."

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Eiesha Bharti Pasricha

Fairy godmother to:

Roksanda and Jonathan Saunders

The 31-year-old Indian businesswoman entered the London fashion scene when she took a stake in Roksanda Ilincic's label, Roksanda, helping the designer appoint a chief executive and open her first store last June. In January, Jonathan Saunders announced Bharti Pasricha had invested in his business, adding that they "enjoy a shared ambition and vision for the business".

Bharti Pasricha, wife of Ennismore Capital founder Sharan Pasricha and daughter of Indian telecoms billionaire Sunil Mittal, says her love of fashion and decision to start investing stems from "being privileged enough to wear amazing designer pieces in my teens and twenties" and a stint working as a Louis Vuitton sales assistant in Paris while a student. "So much of what I learnt then is being channelled into the way I operate now. I know that answers are often found on the shop floor and by observing and interacting with customers, not just in a boardroom," she says. "One has to be prepared to roll one's sleeves up."

Bharti Pasrich, a mother of two, calls her involvement with the brands "active" rather than "day-to-day" but goes to the studios several times a week. "This isn't some private equity model, defined by gunning for a sale to a conglomerate in five years," she says. "I see myself working with the designers for years and know there's risk involved, that we will take a hit financially some seasons. The biggest brands took decades to get where they are. Our young designers need someone who is willing to nurture them and show patience in order to help them get to where they want to be.

"I'm investing in London because I live here and have a busy home life, but I wouldn't invest in anyone who I didn't think was exceptional. The talent nurtured in the UK over the past seven years is a game-changer. There is a newness and versatility to the designs, an intuition about what the modern woman wants that is both creatively and commercially on point. Their French and Italian contemporaries are in a time capsule by contrast."

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Gary Wassner

Fairy godfather to:

Jason Wu among many

Gary Wassner is co-chief executive of New York-based Hilldun, which finances young designers, offering loans and other forms of credit as they build e-commerce platforms and enter manufacturing deals and licensing agreements. Early clients from his first days in the business include 21st-century figures such as Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger.

"Twenty five years ago banks weren't exactly anxious to lend to young designers and there was a void in the market - back then those guys were just like the designers we now give support and guidance to today," says Wassner, who, as well as investing teaches at several New York schools.

Two years ago he set up InterLuxe, a secondary investment vehicle that helps private equity outfits and other investment pools to invest in fashion. "If they have us on hand, outlining the complexities of a rapidly changing space as well as having experience in the way retail and wholesale work, how to scale and working with designers, the returns are significantly improved," he says. InterLuxe, whose first major investment was Michelle Obama favourite Jason Wu, is currently in talks with six potential acquisition targets.

"You need to know the individuals first-hand - fashion isn't like other consumer industries, rationale doesn't necessarily drive why something does or doesn't catch on. During fashion week, I will attend 80 to 100 shows, and I will talk to the designers and try to understand their vision," says Wassner. "It's relentless but essential. Without that knowledge of human capital and the talent you are investing in, you are never going to grow a business."

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