Stripes is a New York growth-equity firm founded in 2008 by Ken Fox, investing in consumer brands and software companies: its portfolio spans OpenAI, A24, Monday.com, and Vuori alongside the food brands Ferret tracks. The firm typically takes minority growth stakes, though it has taken majority control in some cases.
Assets under management: $7B (2025) · 7 companies on Ferret
This Bowl
Dining · 4+ locations — This Bowl (Fishbowl) is an Australian-founded grain bowl brand that launched in NYC in 2024. It's raised $27M from investors and is scouting further US cities: friendly in format, but institutional in backing and intent.
7th Street Burger
Dining · 35+ locations — 7th Street Burger is still run by the founders who opened its East Village smashburger stand in 2021. But private-equity fuel from Left Lane Capital and Stripes now races it toward 100 corporate-owned locations in two years.
Just Salad
Dining · 138+ locations — Just Salad is B Corp-certified, with third-party-verified carbon labels on every menu item. It's still founder-run after 20 years, but now backed by $436M in institutional capital at a $1B valuation.
Pop-Up Bagels
Dining · 48+ locations — Pop-Up Bagels started as a backyard pandemic project. Stripes took majority control in 2025, and Tiger Global priced it at $300M five months later. The founder now holds a brand title, not the CEO chair.
Reformation
Clothing · 70+ locations — Reformation carries genuine, third-party-verified sustainability credentials and 20 straight quarters of double-digit growth. It listed on the NYSE in July 2026, but that did not hand the company to public shareholders: private equity firm Permira still holds about half.
Levain Bakery
Dining · 21+ locations — People think of Levain as the founder-run cookie shop that started it all on the Upper West Side. Growth-equity firm Stripes Group has held majority control since 2018, and outside CEOs now run day-to-day operations while co-founders Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald hold minority stakes.
Vuori
Clothing · 141+ locations — Vuori reads like a scrappy activewear upstart out of a California beach town. It's actually backed by Norwest, SoftBank, and General Atlantic, who valued it at $5.5 billion in a 2024 share sale that paid out early investors instead of the company. Founder Joe Kudla still runs it as CEO.
Firm data last updated August 2026