Taylor Storms
Principal
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- Full Name
- Taylor Storms
- Title
- Partner & Co-Founder
- Firm
- Orkila Capital
- Firm Type
- Growth equity / private equity (media, entertainment & consumer)
- Investment Stage
- Growth equity (primarily growth-stage; the firm also does select earlier deals — e.g., GeoGuessr seed)
- Check Size
- ~$30 million to $100 million per investment
- Target Company Profile
- Growth platforms with differentiated brands, intellectual property, assets or content
- Sector Focus
- Media, entertainment, consumer, and sports (with deep specialization in sports media globally)
- Geographic Focus
- North America and Europe (notable strength in Scandinavia and Belgium)
- Location
- New York City, NY
Background
Taylor Storms is a co-founder and Partner of Orkila Capital, a New York City–based growth equity firm that Storms launched in 2013 alongside Managing Partner Jesse Du Bey. The firm was formed to pursue proprietary growth-equity opportunities in the media, entertainment, and consumer sectors, and today manages roughly $1 billion of deployed capital across multiple private equity funds and special purpose vehicles.
Before founding Orkila, Storms was an associate at Providence Equity Partners, one of the leading global private equity firms focused on media, technology, and information services — a background that directly informs Orkila's thesis-driven approach to media and entertainment investing. Storms is a graduate of Columbia University and is a native of Far Hills, New Jersey.
At Orkila, Storms is one of the firm's principal decision-makers, part of a leadership team whose members bring 20+ years of industry experience. The firm concentrates its capital, making roughly five investments per fund and taking both minority and control positions in growth-stage platforms with differentiated brands, IP, or content. Orkila has built particular depth in sports media, endurance sports, food & beverage, and audio/creative technology.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests in "proprietary and compelling growth equity investment opportunities in the media, entertainment and consumer sectors."
- Targets "growth platforms with differentiated brands, IP, assets or content" — i.e., businesses serving passionate communities and fan bases.
- Check size of roughly $30M–$100M, with a concentrated portfolio of about five deals per fund.
- Takes both minority and control positions; geography spans North America and Europe.
- Leans on "deep industry knowledge and relationships" in media/entertainment/sports as the sourcing and value-add edge — a thesis rooted in the team's operating and PE backgrounds (Providence Equity, etc.).
- Specialized sub-focus in sports media globally (IRONMAN, Club Brugge, Bellator) and in consumer brands with strong IP (Auto-Tune/Antares, Oatly).
Notable Investments
- IRONMAN — Global endurance-sports and triathlon events platform; a flagship sports-media holding.
- Club Brugge — Belgian top-flight football (soccer) club; sports investment in Europe.
- GeoGuessr — Swedish geography-based online game; Orkila took a ~9% minority stake in a seed round (April 2025).
- Cast Iron Media — Sports/creator media company; Orkila invested alongside MLB and David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures as new equity partners (January 2025).
- Antares Audio Technologies (Auto-Tune) — Maker of the iconic Auto-Tune pitch-correction software.
- Oatly — Swedish oat-milk brand; consumer/food & beverage.
- Bellator — Mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion; sports media.
- Mikkeller / AleSmith / Lervig / Omnipollo — Craft-beverage brands (Scandinavia and US).
- eMerge Americas — Technology conference/media platform.
- Superstruct, Snowglobe — Live events / festivals.
- Image Line, Recognition Media, Semdor Pharma, Down the Drain — Additional media and consumer holdings.
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