From Purpose to Scale: How Yugen and The Unusual Group are Turning Impact into Influence

Since launching, Yugen has helped more than 50 startups clarify their message, sharpen their story, and launch brands that move markets.
But for co-founders Matthew C. Gough and River Paige, purpose alone wasn’t enough.

The next stage of growth required systems, faster operations, more substantial support, and infrastructure that allows creativity to scale sustainably.

“Working with The Unusual Group has opened doors we didn’t know existed,” says Matthew C. Gough, Co-Founder of Yugen Agency.
“Removing the guesswork from big decisions, what to prioritise, how to scale, and how to plan for exit, has accelerated our growth more in six months than in the previous two years.”

The partnership isn’t about replacing what makes Yugen different. It’s about strengthening it.

When Unusual Group joins an agency’s board, it’s not a takeover; it’s an alliance.

For Yugen, that means retaining creative control while gaining access to The Unusual Group’s growth infrastructure, strategic frameworks, and founder-led advisory network.
In practice, that translates to three significant advantages:

1. Sharper Go-to-Market Strategy: refining positioning and activation for international audiences.
   
   
2. Streamlined Growth Infrastructure: putting in place the systems that make scale predictable and sustainable.
   
   
3. Amplified Voice: helping a purpose-driven agency reach the clients, investors, and markets where their work can have the most significant impact.

The partnership also extends Yugen’s global reach. With The Unusual Group’s support, Yugen is now equipped to serve founders across Europe and beyond, especially in high-growth sectors such as sustainability, climate tech, and frontier innovation.

Yugen’s mission has always been clear: to turn innovation into influence, helping founders with world-changing ideas build brands that are understood, trusted, and adopted.

That mission doesn’t change with this partnership.
It gets louder.

With The Unusual Group providing the operational backbone, finance, leadership design, and growth systems, Yugen can stay focused on what they do best: creating category-leading brands that shape culture and drive progress.

“This isn’t about getting bigger. It’s about getting better,” says Matthew.“With The Unusual Group on board, we can reach more founders, amplify our mission, and prove that purpose and performance belong together.”

The partnership between Yugen and The Unusual Group illustrates what the founder-first model looks like in practice.
It’s not about scale for scale’s sake, or about folding independent brands into holding companies.

It’s about giving founders the freedom to lead creatively while removing the friction that slows growth.

Where traditional investment models often demand control, The Unusual Group builds autonomy.
Where typical growth partners impose process, The Unusual Group builds infrastructure.
And where holding groups chase financial engineering, Unusual engineers' resilience.

“We don’t invest to take over,” says Luke Tobin, CEO of The Unusual Group.“We invest to multiply what works. Yugen represents the next generation of agencies, mission-led, data-informed, and operationally strong. Our role is to help them scale that impact, not dilute it.”

Yugen’s decision to join The Unusual Group signals something bigger than one agency’s evolution.
It highlights a growing movement in the creative industry, founders who want to scale with purpose, not lose it.

For too long, agencies have faced a false choice: stay small and burn out, or sell out and lose their soul. Yugen and The Unusual Group are proving there’s a third path, where creativity and commerciality coexist, and purpose becomes scalable.

The benefits ripple beyond the agency itself:

• Clients gain a stronger, more resilient partner with the resources to deliver at scale.
  
  
• Teams gain opportunities for professional growth, learning, and collaboration within a wider collective.
  
  

The industry gains proof that purpose-driven agencies can perform as well as, or better than, traditional commercial ones.

From their beginnings on a Scottish beach to becoming a recognised B Corp agency, Yugen’s story has always been about doing work that matters.
Now, with The Unusual Group by their side, that story enters its next chapter.

This partnership combines creative vision with commercial clarity, purpose with performance, in a way that sets the tone for what modern agencies can become.

“No startup gets left behind,” Matthew says. “Now we can prove it.”

Because when purpose meets infrastructure, impact scales, and influence follows.

Read the full announcement here or book a confidential conversation to learn how The Unusual Group helps mission-led agencies scale their impact without losing their identity.