Beauty industry veteran Vasiliki Petrou and her firm Veralis Group have partnered with SEMCAP to launch and build the equity growth platform’s beauty and wellness vertical.
Petrou said the partnership with SEMCAP is an evolution of what she’s been doing throughout her career.
“Now, all of my investments will go through SEMCAP,” she said, adding there’s a convergence of her own and the platform’s values and mindset. “I call them old-fashioned values with modern thinking.”
SEMCAP, she said, believes in backing executives and founders. Petrou herself has long championed company founders. She is also driven to help young people, female entrepreneurs and to shape a more inclusive workforce, with neurodivergence in mind.
Her secret sauce includes identifying promising companies with longevity, a global lens, a point of difference and ones that solve a white-space issue.
Petrou had previously founded and grown Unilever’s multibillion-dollar prestige division and served as its chief executive officer for more than a decade, until the summer of 2024. While there, she identified visionary founders and helped them scale their brands while maintaining their individual DNA. The Unilever prestige division included Dermalogica, Murad, Living Proof, Tatcha, Hourglass, Paula’s Choice, and K18 Biomimetic Hair Science.
Prior to Unilever, Petrou held various top-level positions around the world at Procter & Gamble during 19 years. After Unilever, she launched her own advisory platform, Veralis Group Ltd., in October 2025.
Going forward, Petrou plans to continue investing in companies that are already generating about $30 million to $50 million in net sales. She ideally wants to double them, and then if there’s a strategic or sponsored exit to go with that, otherwise to keep developing together over the long term.
“I truly believe there will be a need for modern strategics, which we haven’t seen before,” Petrou said.
She intends to play in all of beauty, including skin care, hair care, fragrance and color cosmetics. There will be an emphasis on supplements – nutraceuticals – and on personalizing healthcare solutions, as well.
“It could be longevity, and wellness platforms or ideas,” she continued, adding interest also lies in AI-generated companies. “I want to be open to the future,” Petrou explained. She said the current pipeline at SEMCAP is strong.
Walter (Buck) Buckley, cofounder and co-chief investment officer at SEMCAP, said in a statement there is a seismic shift underway within beauty and wellness “as consumers increasingly prioritize skin care, beauty and personalized longevity solutions. Wellness has increasingly become a vital, daily, personalized practice rather than a few discreet activities or purchases.”
The wellness and beauty business worldwide has also become huge. It is estimated to be $6.8 trillion, according to numbers cited by SEMCAP.
“No one understands beauty and wellness and this ubiquity better than Vasiliki,” Buckley said. “With extensive industry experience and a founder’s spirit, we’re fortunate to tap one of the stars of the industry to execute this investment strategy.”
SEMCAP’s beauty and wellness vertical joins the group’s other platforms focused on AI, food and nutrition, and healthcare.
For beauty and wellness, SEMCAP aims to make majority or significant minority investments in companies in North America and Europe that have a proven track record and demonstrable sales growth on a primary and/or secondary basis. Petrou also has in her sights emerging markets for the future.
“SEMCAP beauty and wellness will center on empowering founders and entrepreneurs by connecting them with the scientists, retail partners and industry experts to drive and accelerate growth,” SEMCAP said. “Moreover, the strategy will focus on innovation that blends wellbeing with technology backed by science.”
SEMCAP co-CIOs Buckley and Cyrus Vandrevala are joining the beauty and wellness investment committee. The executives cofounded SEMCAP in 2020 to invest in impactful sectors for society that are ready for investment and disruption, according to the growth equity platform.
