Swoon Editions, a London-based ‘new design every day’ online furniture startup, today announced a £4 million Series A funding round to expand its business in the UK.
Octopus Investments led the round with additional investment from Index Ventures. The transaction is a follow-on round from a seed round of £1.2 million in 2013.
The fresh capital will be used to grow Swoon Editions’ community of ‘insiders’ (interior-savvy people signed up to their email list) as well as increasing the number of designs launched each week. The team has grown from three to 36 over the past 12 months and an additional 20 roles will be created across a range of disciplines, primarily in the London-based headquarter, but also in Vietnam, India and China.
Founded in March 2012, Swoon Editions slices through traditional supply chains to connect consumers with quality furniture manufacturers and artisan makers around the world, cutting out costs and passing savings on to customers. Their quality control guardians check every piece of furniture at the workshop before they are shipped direct to customers’ homes.
Brian Harrison, CEO and Co-founder stated: “We believe people should be able to own beautiful furniture without paying six times what it costs to make. We cut out unnecessary retail overheads and gain further efficiencies by only producing pieces we know are in demand. In the past year we have tested every aspect of our business model, rapidly growing our base of suppliers, designers, customers and industry style watchers. We are delighted that this has inspired our original investors to provide additional capital to accelerate our growth.”
By the way: If you’d like to stay up-to-date with acquisitions, funding and other interesting opportunities, make sure to subscribe to our free weekly EU-Startups Newsletter!
