Former Unilever-CEO Vasiliki Petrou launches beauty investment fund Veralis Group

By Lollie Hancock | Published: 9-Oct-2025
Finance

Petrou unveils Veralis Group, a new investment and advisory firm focused on scaling founder-led beauty, wellness, and health businesses

Vasiliki Petrou, the former Executive Vice President and Group CEO behind Unilever's Prestige division, has unveiled Veralis Group.

The company is a new advisory and investment platform aimed at accelerating growth for beauty, wellness, longevity, diagnostics and consumer health ventures.

Building on more than 30 years of experience in the beauty industry, Veralis is set to serve as an “ecosystem of advisors, operators, investors, and founders united by values and ambition.”

It will combine capital with strategic and operational support to grow the scale and impact of its portfolios.

Veralis also plans to take significant or majority stakes in target businesses, particularly founder-led brands that marry strong values and global ambitions.

The model prioritises long-term value creation over quick exits, with backing not only in funding but also in cultural insight, network access and hands-on growth guidance.

Petrou draws on her Unilever legacy, where she spent the last decade building the Prestige unit, leading to key acquisitions including Tatcha, K18, Hourglass and Dermalogica.

“After 30 years of experience in the beauty industry, I have seen too many soul-crushing deals and have always believed there is a better way: building ecosystems where everyone wins,” Petrou said in a LinkedIn post. 

“At Veralis Group, we take significant, often majority stakes with the goal of at least doubling businesses in both scale and impact.”

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