L Catterton and Patricof Co Announce Formation of CHAMP

GREENWICH, Conn. and NEW YORK, April 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- L Catterton and Patricof Co today announced the formation of CHAMP ("CHampion Athlete Managing Partner"), a new strategic partnership designed to pursue a universe of brands across the consumer landscape where deeply aligned athlete involvement can step-function growth.

CHAMP's defining characteristic is its distinctive athlete ownership model: Athletes participate directly alongside L Catterton and Patricof Co as co-owners of portfolio companies to create powerful and authentic alignment of interests that differs meaningfully from traditional athlete-brand relationships. This model is paired with a proprietary Athlete Activation framework that seeks to create outsized value for these brands. To date, more than 250 elite athletes have partnered with CHAMP. Select CHAMP athletes include:

Cade Cunningham  •  Cooper Flagg  •  Kevin Durant (35V)  •  Tyrese Haliburton  •  Azzi Fudd
Cameron Brink  •  Sophie Cunningham  •  Dak Prescott  •  Ja'Marr Chase  •  Joe Burrow
Justin Jefferson  •  Bobby Witt Jr.  •  Corbin Carroll  •  Logan Webb  •  Mike Trout
 Tarik Skubal  •  Nacho Figueras  •  Patrick Cantlay  •  Livvy Dunne  

CHAMP will partner with emerging and scaled consumer brands that can benefit from authentic athlete involvement to accelerate awareness, deepen consumer engagement, and unlock new avenues for growth. The strategy is particularly oriented toward companies with strong underlying brand affinity but untapped visibility, where athlete activation may catalyze growth.

"Consumer behavior is undergoing a profound and secular shift driven by the convergence of culture, technology, and media. Our proprietary research shows that athletes are among the most trusted and influential voices to emerge in this landscape," said Scott Dahnke, Global CEO of L Catterton. "This partnership reflects a thoughtful extension of L Catterton's consumer investing approach. By combining our global investment platform and deep understanding of the consumer with Patricof Co's athlete relationships, CHAMP seeks to execute a distinctive approach to partnering with consumer brands and a systematic framework for translating cultural relevance into sustainable growth while preserving the rigorous investment diligence for which we are known."

Mark Patricof, Founder and CEO of Patricof Co, added, "We have spent years building trust-based relationships with some of the world's most prominent athletes, and observing that those athletes can drive better outcomes when they have skin in the game . CHAMP is the institutionalization of these collective insights. We believe that partnering with L Catterton, a firm that shares our conviction and brings deep consumer investing experience, enables us to take our demonstrated outcomes to an institutional platform scale."

CHAMP is the natural evolution of nearly a decade of partnership between L Catterton and Patricof Co, with shared investments across brands like Cholula Hot Sauce, Kodiak Cakes, and RealTruck, among others. CHAMP will draw on dedicated resources from both firms — L Catterton's global infrastructure and consumer investing expertise alongside Patricof Co's athlete relationships and activation capabilities. CHAMP is intended to complement L Catterton's existing investment platforms while extending the firm's ability to partner with consumer businesses through differentiated sources of insight, access, and engagement.

About L Catterton

L Catterton is a market-leading consumer-focused investment firm managing approximately $40 billion of equity capital across multiproduct platforms dedicated to private equity, credit, and real estate. The firm's funds have the ability to invest between $5 million and $5 billion, across the capital structure, in well-positioned consumer businesses. Leveraging deep category insight, operational excellence, and a broad network of strategic relationships, L Catterton's team of more than 200 investment and operating professionals across 18 offices partners with management teams to drive differentiated value creation across its portfolio. Founded in 1989, the firm has made over 300 investments in some of the world's most iconic consumer brands. For more information, please visit www.lcatterton.com.

About Patricof Co

Patricof Co ("P/Co") is a highly specialized investment and advisory platform focused on delivering differentiated private investment opportunities and strategic guidance to a select network of professional athletes. P/Co supports its professional athlete clients with a variety of advisory services, which allow them to develop the network and knowledge base necessary to become successful, independent-minded investors, and high-performing business professionals.

P/Co invests across a range of alternative investment categories where the firm can be a value-added partner. Through a bespoke portfolio operations group, P/Co operationalizes the cultural impact of athletes-as-shareholders at scale.

Contact

L Catterton:
Julie Hamilton
[email protected]

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SOURCE L Catterton