Private equity across the consumer value chain.
Caelum Capital makes control investments in B2B and B2C consumer businesses, from the inputs and value added services behind every product to the brands people choose, across the UK, Western Europe and the USA.
We invest in the inputs and value added services behind consumer products, and in the brands people choose.
- Ingredients and flavoursFlavour houses, botanicals and specialist processors
- Packaging and specialist manufacturingAccredited, engineered production niches
- Technical and scientific servicesTesting, sensory and consumer research, quality
- Specialist storageBonded, maturation and controlled storage
- Consumer brandsEstablished brands with room to grow internationally
- Premium and specialist categoriesWhere provenance and quality carry the price
Operators first. We work inside the businesses we own.
Our team has run production, sales, finance and whole regions for consumer and drinks groups. After we invest, we do not watch from the boardroom: we work alongside management, week in and week out, on the decisions that move the business.
Route to market
A rebuilt commercial engine, from venue by venue targeting to an AI led sales system, now being extended from the US into Europe.
Brand and portfolio
A clear focus for the range and the flagship, with the marketing plan, pricing and innovation pipeline to support it.
Supply and quality
Supplier standards, bottling protocols and incident procedures written with the operations team and held to account at board level.
Stocks and maturation
Long range planning of whisky stocks, cask exchanges and maturation, guided by one of the industry's foremost production experts.
Finance and governance
Banking, currency hedging, reporting and controls to institutional standards, run by our own finance team.
Leadership
Key hires, incentive plans and an engaged board, chaired by an industry leader from our advisory team.
AI at work in the businesses we own.
At Compass Box Whisky we have built artificial intelligence into the commercial engine of the business. We bring the same capability, and the people who built it, to every company we own.
Precision route to market
A targeting model that ranks every licensed bar, restaurant and shop in a market, built from licensing records, local demographics and account history.
An intelligent sales engine
AI reads every call note and reply, assesses each lead and sets the day's priorities for the sales team.
Trade marketing at venue level
Bespoke cocktail menu proposals generated for individual bars and restaurants before the first conversation.
Measured like any investment
Each initiative carries an owner, a budget and a return, and is reviewed at board level.
Established, profitable businesses at a moment of change.
Founders planning succession, families without a next generation in the business, and corporate groups selling divisions that no longer fit their strategy.
| Revenue | £20m to £100m |
| EBITDA | £5m to £20m |
| Position | Control or majority |
| Model | B2B suppliers and service providers; B2C brands |
| Regions | UK, Western Europe, USA |
| Profile | Cash generative, clearly differentiated, no previous private equity ownership |
Manish
Rungta
Founded in 2021, Caelum Capital is led by Manish Rungta, who has spent more than two decades investing in and buying consumer businesses, formerly at Duet Private Equity and in Diageo's global M&A team. Our first investment, Compass Box Whisky, was a proprietary corporate carve out from Bacardi. Our roots are in beverages, one of the most demanding consumer markets, and that experience informs every investment we make.
Meet the team