Mike Martin

Managing Director at True

📍 London, England Metropolitan Area, United Kingdom🔄 Updated July 2026💼 9 investments📅 8 years investing🗓 Last invested Aug 2024
VC🌍 United Kingdom
9
Total investments
1
Early stage
6
Mid stage
2
Late stage
8y
Years active

Portfolio

9 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Board Observer
Aug 2024
A conscious award-winning beauty ecosystem founded by @DiipaKhosla. Available in the US, UK, Canada & India, and Worldwide.
Board Observer
Jul 2023
Sanitary pads are single use plastics. Our certified flushable and biodegradable period pads are highly absorbent and effortless to dispose away. Disintegrating away within minutes down your toilet, leaving behind zero micro-plastics.
late stageManufacturing
Board Member
Mar 2023
Fable is a lifestyle brand offering sustainably crafted artisan homeware that transforms how you live at home—from the dining table to the living room, and beyond. Only partnering with makers who put the earth first, we focus on high quality materials and ethical production practices to deliver premium, long-lasting collections designed to help you feel right at home. Certified B Corporation.
mid stageManufacturing
Board Member
Aug 2022
Awe Inspired is a breakout fine jewelry brand rooted in meaning, power, and storytelling. Known for our viral Goddess Collection, we create symbolic designs that celebrate strength, transformation, and self-expression. Over 500,000 people wear our pieces, including a legion of celebrity fans, and more than 7 million have taken our Webby Award-Winning Goddess Quiz. Founded by cancer survivor Jill Johnson and her son Max, Awe began as a personal mission and grew into a movement. We’ve donated millions to causes including NAMI, GLSEN, Women’s Earth Alliance, and CancerCare. We design everything in Los Angeles using ethically sourced precious metals and natural gemstones, and our artisan partners bring over a century of fine jewelry expertise to each piece. Our audience connects with us on a spiritual level, and we know how to stay culturally relevant. We’re a tight-knit team of creatives, strategists, and multi-hyphenates who thrive in chaos, crave relevance, and are not afraid of weekend work or last-minute pivots. We offer a hybrid schedule, 401k matching, full health benefits, and the chance to grow with a brand that is rewriting the rules of luxury.
Board Observer
May 2022
Founded by Eva Goicochea, maude® is a modern, direct-to-consumer sexual wellness startup that launched in April 2018 and has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Forbes, and Fast Company, amongst others. In July of 2019, maude was one of CircleUp’s 25, an "annual award recognizing some of the most innovative consumer brands on the market”, part of The Lead’s Foremost 50 in both 2020 and 2021, and has been heralded as “redefining the sex essentials industry for modern consumers” by Forbes. By eschewing the traditional approach through quality, simplicity, and inclusivity, maude is setting new standards for sexual wellness and works closely with factories to create body-safe, accessible essentials for all. maude is backed by True Beauty Ventures, Fable Investments (under Natura&Co), True, RRE Ventures, CASSIUS Family, Endeavor, and angels including Benjamin Millepied and Dakota Johnson, amongst others. In 2022, we launched in Sephora, one of the first sexual wellness brands ever carried in the retailer’s 52-year history. In 2022, we announced partnerships with Advocates for Youth and SIECUS, organizations dedicated to sexual health access and education. This is modern intimacy.®
mid stageManufacturing
Principal, Investment
Apr 2022
True is a consumer and retail sector-specialist investment and advisory firm, taking a holistic approach to building and connecting consumer brands and enabling technologies. Investment strategies encompass Venture Capital (<$5m investments), Private Equity (up to $150m investments) with a global mandate—including portfolio companies such as The Cotswold Company, Zwift, Apparel Brands Group and Represent—and, most recently, a Public Markets fund. The earlystage VC fund invests Pre-Seed to Series A across the Consumer (b2c) and Retail (b2b) verticals, with portfolio companies including the likes of By Rotation, Eyva, Jitty, Shellworks and onFabric. True also operates an advisory business that helps identify, quantify and capture significant value creation opportunities for global corporates including the likes of Associated British Foods, Marks & Spencer, Warner Bros. Discovery, Walmart and TJX – creating billions in enterprise value in the process.
Board Observer
Jun 2019
The Drone Racing League (DRL) is the global, professional drone racing circuit for elite FPV (First Person View) pilots. A technology, sports and media company, DRL combines world-class media and proprietary technology to create thrilling 3D drone racing content with mass appeal. The DRL Allianz World Championship streams on Twitter, and airs on NBC, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, Groupe AB, OSN, and FOX Sports Asia. The league recently launched the Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit, the premier autonomous drone racing series. Founded by Nicholas Horbaczewski in 2015, DRL is a privately held company headquartered in NYC. For more information, visit www.drl.io.
Board Observer
Oct 2018
Papercup is a machine learning start-up transforming the media industry. 99.9% of video content is shackled to a single language. Our ambition is to make the worlds video content watchable in any language. Were translating videos by generating voices that sound like the original speaker, not only capturing the characteristics of your voice but also the way you speak.
Board Observer
Jan 2018
www.incrowdsports.com With a fully integrated suite of data powered technologies and supporting services, InCrowd is rebooting sports businesses by connecting and optimising digital touchpoints and unlocking new commercial opportunities. Find out more at www.incrowdsports.com or contact the team now via enquiries@incrowdsports.com
Experience · 10 entries
All (10)
Investments (9)
Board (8)
2024
Board Observer
Aug 2024
A conscious award-winning beauty ecosystem founded by @DiipaKhosla. Available in the US, UK, Canada & India, and Worldwide.
2023
Board Observer
Jul 2023
Sanitary pads are single use plastics. Our certified flushable and biodegradable period pads are highly absorbent and effortless to dispose away. Disintegrating away within minutes down your toilet, leaving behind zero micro-plastics.
late stageManufacturing
Board Member
Mar 2023
Fable is a lifestyle brand offering sustainably crafted artisan homeware that transforms how you live at home—from the dining table to the living room, and beyond. Only partnering with makers who put the earth first, we focus on high quality materials and ethical production practices to deliver premium, long-lasting collections designed to help you feel right at home. Certified B Corporation.
mid stageManufacturing
2022
Board Member
Aug 2022
Awe Inspired is a breakout fine jewelry brand rooted in meaning, power, and storytelling. Known for our viral Goddess Collection, we create symbolic designs that celebrate strength, transformation, and self-expression. Over 500,000 people wear our pieces, including a legion of celebrity fans, and more than 7 million have taken our Webby Award-Winning Goddess Quiz. Founded by cancer survivor Jill Johnson and her son Max, Awe began as a personal mission and grew into a movement. We’ve donated millions to causes including NAMI, GLSEN, Women’s Earth Alliance, and CancerCare. We design everything in Los Angeles using ethically sourced precious metals and natural gemstones, and our artisan partners bring over a century of fine jewelry expertise to each piece. Our audience connects with us on a spiritual level, and we know how to stay culturally relevant. We’re a tight-knit team of creatives, strategists, and multi-hyphenates who thrive in chaos, crave relevance, and are not afraid of weekend work or last-minute pivots. We offer a hybrid schedule, 401k matching, full health benefits, and the chance to grow with a brand that is rewriting the rules of luxury.
Board Observer
May 2022
Founded by Eva Goicochea, maude® is a modern, direct-to-consumer sexual wellness startup that launched in April 2018 and has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Forbes, and Fast Company, amongst others. In July of 2019, maude was one of CircleUp’s 25, an "annual award recognizing some of the most innovative consumer brands on the market”, part of The Lead’s Foremost 50 in both 2020 and 2021, and has been heralded as “redefining the sex essentials industry for modern consumers” by Forbes. By eschewing the traditional approach through quality, simplicity, and inclusivity, maude is setting new standards for sexual wellness and works closely with factories to create body-safe, accessible essentials for all. maude is backed by True Beauty Ventures, Fable Investments (under Natura&Co), True, RRE Ventures, CASSIUS Family, Endeavor, and angels including Benjamin Millepied and Dakota Johnson, amongst others. In 2022, we launched in Sephora, one of the first sexual wellness brands ever carried in the retailer’s 52-year history. In 2022, we announced partnerships with Advocates for Youth and SIECUS, organizations dedicated to sexual health access and education. This is modern intimacy.®
mid stageManufacturing
Show all 10 entries ↓
Investment activity
2018–2024 · 9 investments
2018220191202232023220241
Recent (last 2 years)Earlier