Made.com reveals £40m in fresh funding to boost European business
High-end design brand Made.com has raised £40m of equity funding which it says will be used to fuel expansion into new European markets and boost its online presence.
The funding round includes commitments from existing investors Partech Ventures, Level Equity and Eight Roads Ventures as well as a new, unnamed, "tier one global institutional investor". Last year, the company said that it achieved net revenue of £127m, a 40 per cent year-on-year increase.
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Made employs more than 300 staff across its operations in the UK, continental Europe and Asia and is headed by Philippe Chainieux. The company is best-known in the UK for its stylish home furnishing and accessories including bedding, sofas and lighting fixtures.
It said that plans are currently underway to launch into additional European markets and develop a number of new showrooms. It currently boasts six showrooms which are located in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin.
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“We continue to scale rapidly across Europe, and I am pleased to confirm that Made.com has reached profitability in 2017 in the UK, France and Benelux, and is now cash flow positive at the group level,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Chainieux.
“We have had a strong start to 2018 and are very excited about the future,” he added. “The funds raised will facilitate faster growth in existing and new markets across Europe. While Made continues to evolve, it remains at heart a design brand, committed to creating products for the home which are affordable and unique.”
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At present, the firm operates in seven European countries, including UK, France and Germany. It declined to reveal the locations of new markets, but said that international sales now account for 40 per cent of its business, with the remainder coming from the UK.
On top of the funding news, Made announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer (CFO), Adrian Evans, who joined from fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter Group.
Looking to the future, the company pledged to bolster TalentLAB, its crowd-funded submission platform that invites designers to send in ideas that could eventually end up on store shelves.
The initiative will launch 200 new designers every year, the firm said.
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