Roses are red, violets are blue, long-term investing is our true love, and these Spaceship Voyager portfolio companies are too.
POV: Your one true love is caffeine.
“What I love about coffee is that it makes me feel like a superhero who's ready to take on the world (or at least the next meeting).” – Blair from Spaceship
If you’ve got a coffee habit, you’re not alone. 28% of Aussies drink three or more cups each day according to McCrindle research – and 84% of us spend at least a little bit of money on a latte or two each week.
Coffee’s a big business, and the biggest name in coffee is in our Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios: Starbucks.
Starbucks is a global behemoth because:
- Its customers feel connected to its brand
- It’s conveniently located – there are more than 36,000 Starbucks cafes globally
- It’s a popular gift, ranking as the #2 U.S. brand in holiday gift card activations with US$3.3 billion loaded and gifted on Starbucks cards in the US last quarter ending 1 January 2023. The gifting of Starbuck cards was greater than the next four brands of gift cards combined.
- Drinking your coffee there is an experience – especially if you’re partial to a pumpkin spice latte.
- We’re all just nicer people after coffee.
Starbucks just posted record quarterly sales for its 13 week Q1 fiscal year ending 1 January 2023. It might not surprise you but 75% of Starbucks sales are cold drinks – customising frappuccinos is BIG business.
Starbucks is in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios at the time of writing.
POV: Your one true love is the gym
“I love my Lululemon because I can still wear leggings I bought from them eight years ago.” - Maddy from Spaceship
“I love Lululemon because its amazing quality means its with you for yearsss, and feels amazing on your body.” - Matt from Spaceship
No matter how much cost per use you’re paying for your gym membership, odds are pretty good you’re at least a little self-conscious of what you wear there.
It turns out we all are – gym wear is a massive industry: it’s projected to be worth $455 billion globally by 2027.
Currently, Lululemon, which is in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios, commands just 2% of this – and it’s planning on taking up a whole lot more of it, with company targets to double revenue by 2026. As they say, go hard or go home.
Lululemon is in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios at the time of writing.
POV: Your one true love is travel
“I love to travel because I get to discover new worlds, people, and experiences.” - Bryna from Spaceship
The world got really small there for a second – but as borders have opened back up, and travel has resumed, the global tourism market is ramping up again.
One big beneficiary is AirBNB, in our Spaceship Universe portfolio. It offers accommodation and experiences to travelers from all around the world – and travel they do. The company had almost 100 million nights and experiences booked in Q3 2022, ending 30 September 2022.
We love AirBNB’s story because it shows you what can happen when you follow your heart and a great idea.
AirBNB is in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Origin portfolios at the time of writing.
POV: Your one true love is your dog
“What I love about my dog is his howl! if you’ve heard it, you’ll know it’s unique.” - Mike from Spaceship
If you refer to yourself as a paw-rent, have a fur baby, and can’t be without your significant fur other – you’re among friends. We’ve got a whole Slack channel dedicated to the dogs of Spaceship.
Some people say it costs as much to raise a pet as it does a human kid. Either way – one beneficiary is Chewy, an online store for pets, in the Spaceship Universe portfolio. We love Chewy because, among other things, they’re as dedicated to their customers as they are their customers’ pets – so much so that they surprise their customers with random acts of artwork featuring their animals. You can see how much they center their customers in this tweet:
I contacted @Chewy last week to see if I could return an unopened bag of my dog’s food after he died. They 1) gave me a full refund, 2) told me to donate the food to the shelter, and 3) had flowers delivered today with the gift note signed by the person I talked to?? 😭🥹
— Anna Brose, MSc (@alcesanna) June 15, 2022
Chewy is in the Spaceship Universe portfolio at the time of writing.
POV: Your one true love is Disney
“I love Disney because of their ability to immerse you in entirely new worlds and stories, both through media and rides.” - Zach from Spaceship, who named his dog Walt.
Or, your one true love is Star Wars. Or, your one true love is Tony Stark (just me?)
Being a Disney fan means you could love any number of things: theme parks, cruise ships, live sport, Marvel comics, Disney soundtracks, Disney On Ice… Disney owns them all.
The company makes a lot of money out of being able to create whole new worlds. And honestly – life’s been tough for a lot of us for a long time now. There’s no harm in trying to escape it through entertainment – especially for Disney, who made $82 billion in revenue for the 2022 fiscal year ending 1 October 2022. And they’ve got staying power – Disney is celebrating their 100 birthday this year.
Disney’s in our Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Origin portfolios at the time of writing.
POV: You’re in the Spaceship Voyager investment team and you’ve been asked why you invest in the things people love
We asked our Spaceship Voyager investment team about the importance of investing in brands that customers love. Over to Jason Sedawie, Spaceship VP of Investments.
“Brands are typically the most important asset a company owns. The most popular brands become verbs or nouns. For example, we don’t say ‘order a rideshare’, we say ‘order an Uber.’
A great brand becomes free word of mouth marketing. Brands are a type of promise, promoting a certain customer experience. Instead of searching and comparing other options, (running the risk of disappointment,) a trusted brand can become the default option. Customers engage with the trusted brand knowing what to expect.
Disney does this well: when choosing a movie we know what experience to expect from a Star Wars or Marvel film. Brands typically create value by delivering on their promises, being front of mind, and setting expectations, which reduces customer marketing costs and also increases loyalty.”
Some of our Spaceship Voyager portfolios invest in Starbucks, Lululemon, Airbnb, Chewy, and Disney at the time of writing.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
