Filing Details

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This Schedule 13D is being filed by the undersigned, pursuant to Rule 13d-1(a) under the Act, with respect to the Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Common Stock”), of Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc. (the “Issuer”), whose principal executive offices are located at 1301 Sansome Street, San Francisco, California 94111.

(a)-(c), (f) This Schedule 13D relates to shares of Class A Common Stock beneficially owned by Christopher Clark (the “Reporting Person”).  The Reporting Person is Chief Technology Officer of the Issuer and a member of the Issuer’s board of directors (the “Board”).  The address of the principal business office of the Reporting Person is 1301 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111.  The Reporting Person is a citizen of the United States of America.

(d) The Reporting Person has not, during the last five years, been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors).

(e) The Reporting Person has not, during the last five years, been a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and, as a result of such proceeding, was or is subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws.

The Reporting Person co-founded Grove Collaborative, Inc., a Delaware public benefit corporation (“Grove”), under the name ePantry, in 2012 and has served as its Chief Technology Officer since 2013.  In such capacity, the Reporting Person acquired and continued to hold certain shares of Grove common stock for cash, was granted stock options, restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and warrants to acquire shares of Grove common stock, and exercised certain stock options.

On June 16, 2022 (the “Closing Date”), the series of mergers (the “Business Combination”) contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 7, 2021, as amended and restated on March 31, 2022, (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among Virgin Group Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“VGAC II”), Treehouse Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned direct subsidiary of VGAC II, Treehouse Merger Sub II, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned direct subsidiary of VGAC II, and Grove, were consummated.

Upon closing of the Business Combination, each share of Grove common stock and each RSU, option and warrant to acquire Grove common stock was converted into the right to receive a share of the Issuer’s Class B common stock (“Class B Common Stock”) and an RSU, option and warrant to acquire Class B Common Stock, respectively, based on an exchange ratio set forth in the Merger Agreement (“Exchange Ratio”), plus a number of Earnout Shares (defined below) calculated pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement.  The Exchange Ratio calculates to approximately 1.176 shares of Issuer equity per share of Grove equity.

Each share of Class B Common Stock is convertible into Class A Common Stock on a one-for-one basis at any time, and will be automatically converted into an equal number of Class A Common Stock upon any transfer.

The “Earnout Shares” consist of 14,000,000 restricted shares of Class B Common Stock issued to certain holders of Grove securities immediately prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, which will vest upon the achievement of certain earnout thresholds (“Milestones”) prior to the tenth anniversary of the Closing Date. The Milestones are defined in the Merger Agreement as follows: (i) 50% of the Earnout Shares automatically vest if the daily volume weighted average price of the shares of Class A Common Stock is greater than or equal to $12.50 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period; and (ii) 50% of the Earnout Shares automatically vest if the daily volume weighted average price of the shares of Class A Common Stock is greater than or equal to $15.00 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period, each subject to certain change-of-control provisions as provided in the Merger Agreement.  In addition, any Earnout Shares issued in exchange for Grove RSUs or options are subject to the same vesting terms as the underlying RSUs and options and, if the underlying RSU or option is forfeited, the corresponding Earnout Shares will also be forfeited and distributed to the other holder of Grove securities as if immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination on a pro rata basis.  The holders of Earnout Shares have the right to receive dividends and vote such shares, but are subject to restrictions on transfer and sale, as set forth in the Merger Agreement.

In connection with closing of the Business Combination, the Reporting Person acquired the following securities in exchange for his Grove securities:  (i) 327,837 shares of Class B Common Stock in exchange for Grove common stock; (ii) 69,092 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of vested stock options with a strike price of $0.38 per share and an expiration date of October 3, 2027, (iii) 128,312 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of vested stock options with a strike price of $0.22 per share and an expiration date of July 7, 2026, (iv) 169,442 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of vested stock options with a strike price of $0.38 per share and an expiration date of October 3, 2027, (v) 399,854 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon service-based vesting and exercise of stock options with a strike price of $0.76 per share and an expiration date of November 8, 2028, (vi) 588,020 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon service-based vesting and exercise of stock options with a strike price of $1.92 per share and an expiration date of May 30, 2029; (vii) 264,609 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon service-based vesting and exercise of stock options with a strike price of $3.77 per share and an expiration date of February 14, 2031; (viii) 588 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of warrants with a strike price of $8.51 and an expiration date of October 15, 2022; (ix) 190,006 restricted shares of Class B Common Stock that represent Earnout Shares held directly by the Reporting Person; and (x) 175,347 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon vesting and settlement of RSUs.

Also in connection with closing of the Business Combination, the Reporting Person elected to convert 100 shares of Class B Common Stock held directly by him into 100 shares of Class A Common Stock.

The response to Item 3 of this Schedule 13D is incorporated by reference herein.

 

The Reporting Person acquired the securities reported herein in connection with his role as Chief Technology Officer and a director on the Board of the Issuer, for investment purposes, and intends to review his investment on a continuing basis.  In his capacity as Chief Technology Officer and a director on the Board of the Issuer, the Reporting Person may have influence over the corporate activities of the Issuer, including activities which may relate to items described in subparagraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D.

 

Subject to the agreements described herein and applicable legal requirements, the Reporting Person may purchase additional securities, or dispose of all or a portion of his securities, of the Issuer from time to time in open market or private transactions, depending on his evaluation of the Issuer’s business, prospects and financial condition, the market for the Issuer’s securities, other developments concerning the Issuer, and general economic, money market and stock market conditions.  In addition, the Reporting Person may engage in discussions with members of management, the Issuer’s Board, and other securityholders of the Issuer and other relevant parties regarding, among other things, the Issuer’s business, operations, governance or control.

 

Other than as described herein, the Reporting Person does not have any plan or proposal relating to or that would result in any of the events or matters described in part (a) through (j) of Item 4 of the Statement on Schedule 13D, although, subject to the agreements described herein and applicable legal requirements, the Reporting Person may, at any time and from time to time, participate in discussions concerning, formulate or review plans or proposals that may result in one or more of the actions described in clauses (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D.

 

(a, b) As of the date hereof, the Reporting Person may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of 2,313,107 shares of Class A Common Stock, representing approximately 7.3% of the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding.  This amount consists of: (i) 100 shares of Class A Common Stock held directly by the Reporting Person; (ii) 517,743 shares of Class B Common Stock held directly by the Reporting Person, of which 190,006 are Earnout Shares; (iii) 1,619,329 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of vested or service-based vesting options issued directly to the Reporting Person; (iv) 588 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon exercise of warrants held directly by the Reporting Person; and (v) 175,347 shares of Class B Common Stock obtainable upon vesting and settlement of RSUs issued directly to the Reporting Person.

(c) The response to Item 3 is incorporated by reference herein.  Except for transactions reported herein, there have been no transactions in the Issuer’s securities by the Reporting Person in the past sixty days.

(d) This Item 5(d) is not applicable.

(e) This Item 5(e) is not applicable.

The responses to Item 3 and Item 4 of this Schedule 13D are incorporated by reference herein.

Support Agreement/Lock-Up

Certain Grove shareholders, including the Reporting Person (collectively, the “Support Parties”), entered into a support agreement with VGAC II on December 7, 2021 (the “Support Agreement”), as amended on March 31, 2022 (the “Support Agreement Amendment”), pursuant to which the Support Parties agreed to vote all of their Grove equity interests in favor of the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby and to take certain other actions in support of the Business Combination. In addition, the Support Parties each agreed, with certain exceptions, to a lock-up commencing on the Closing Date and ending on the date of the first trading window at least 150 days after the Closing Date, with respect to any shares of the Issuer’s common stock that they receive as merger consideration under the Merger Agreement.

Indemnification Agreement

The Reporting Person, along with the Issuer’s other directors and officers, is party to an indemnification agreement with the Issuer (the “Indemnification Agreement”) pursuant to which the Issuer has agreed to indemnify the Reporting Person against any and all expenses incurred by the Reporting Person employee because of his status as a director or executive officer of the Issuer to the fullest extent permitted by law and the Issuer’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws.

The foregoing summaries of the Support Agreement, Support Agreement Amendment and Indemnification Agreement do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text or form of such agreements, each of which is filed as an exhibit to this Schedule 13D and is incorporated herein by reference.

SIGNATURE

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Attention: Intentional misstatements or omissions of act constitute federal violations (see 18 U.S.C. 1001).