In 2020, the Duchess of Sussex invested in Clevr Blends, a small make-it-yourself oat milk latte brand. Clevr Blends is now being sold at Target and online, and it was a pretty significant success for Meghan, who invested early. Well, she’s doing it again. Last year, Meghan carried a purse from Cesta Collective when she went out to dinner in California. The photos were mega-exclusives and only carried by a handful of outlets, like the Daily Mail. But social media watches everything Meghan does and everything she wears, so the Cesta Collective bag quickly became a hot-ticket item and sold out within 24 hours. That’s when the women behind Cesta sent Meghan a thank-you note. Long story short, Meghan is now a minority stakeholder in Cesta Collective. From the NY Times:

Meghan can move merchandise: Through it all, however, apparently Meghan’s ability to move merchandise has remained notably high. So much so that in 2020, she decided to start putting her money where her taste was and began investing in a small portfolio of female-run companies. The latest: Cesta Collective, which specializes in basket bags that are handwoven by a collective of women in Rwanda and finished in Italy.

Meghan is an online shopper: “I spend a lot of time just Googling, looking for brands,” Meghan said last week on a call from her home in Santa Monica, just after she and Harry had returned from a tour of Colombia. “When people are online looking for things or reading things, I’m trying to find great new designers, especially in different territories.”

The bag Meghan carried went viral: Meghan wore a Cesta bag to a dinner date she and her husband had in May 2023 with Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow and their spouses. Afterward, as photos of Meghan with the bag spread, Cesta’s founders, Erin Ryder and Courtney Weinblatt Fasciano, said they noticed an almost immediate uptick in interest. “We were on our way to Mexico to shoot a look book,” Ms. Ryder said. “We got off the plane, got our internet on and, all of a sudden, this one style that had been a little bit sleepy was totally sold through, and we were getting a lot of ‘back in stock’ sign-ups. We knew there had to be some reason that these were selling so quickly, so Courtney did some internet sleuthing to find out. We had more sales in one day than we’ve ever had.”

Meghan’s investment: She and Ms. Fasciano wrote Meghan a thank-you note, they said, a relationship ensued and, this summer, she offered to become their first outside investor. Meghan would not say how much money she had put into the brand, or what ownership percentage she has, but Ms. Ryder and Ms. Fasciano confirmed it was a minority stake.

The Strathberry bag in 2017: Meghan said she realized how much attention was focused on her clothing choices in 2017, following her engagement to Harry, when she wore a bag from the Scottish brand Strathberry for a public appearance with him. A founder of Strathberry said the bag had sold out online in 11 minutes after Meghan was seen with it. When Meghan learned that the boost in publicity and sales she had caused had helped Strathberry expand its work force, it “changed everything in terms of how I then looked at putting an outfit together,” she said.

She knows she’s giving brands a global spotlight: “Times where I know there is a global spotlight, and attention will be given to each detail of what I may or may not be wearing, then I support designers that I have really great friendships with, and smaller, up-and-coming brands that haven’t gotten the attention that they should be getting,” she said. “That’s one of the most powerful things that I’m able to do, and that’s simply wearing, like, an earring.”

Meghan’s portfolio: Meghan’s interest in investing in brands began during the pandemic, when lockdowns meant there was less opportunity to turn a paparazzi moment to her own ends. Her first stake was in Clevr Blends, a vegan instant latte company. Now there are between five and 10 brands in her portfolio, she said. She sees them as a complement to her own nascent lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. “Investing in them has helped me line up for this chapter where I’m investing in myself,” Meghan said. She thinks of her modest venture-capital initiative as “dolphin tank,” as opposed to “Shark Tank,” she added.“These are friendly waters,” she said.

[From The NY Times]

Wait, she’s invested in “5 to 10” other brands? Who? Where? Give interviews about those investments too! While Meghan gave money/investment to both Clevr Blends and Cesta – they hope to expand with the money – the real investment Meghan gives these companies is exposure and free media. Cesta Collective got millions in free advertising (from exclusive photos!!) just because people obsessively watch what Meghan wears. Anyway, I love this for Meghan and I love this for the brands receiving her investments and attention.

Meghan wearing the Cesta Collective bag in Colombia pic.twitter.com/Vlqo8G6B5V

— Hannah (@queen_meghan14) August 28, 2024

Meghan always shopping in a way to give back….love this bag….unfortunately her one is archival and no longer for sale in same color pic.twitter.com/i0xZhlZNGW

— Renee (@Aditiya_renee) May 14, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.