Online interior design specialists, Houseology.com recently closed it Seedrs initiative after securing over £1 million. The company launched the equity crowdfunding campaign in December as a way to raise expansion funds.
Houseology.com, formerly known as Occa Home, was founded in 2010 by award-winning interior designer Kate Mooney, when she identified a gap in the market for a tech-driven interior design service aimed at simplifying the home design process for her busy clients.
Her business model of opening up her design studio to both consumers and trade via a digital platform, complemented by reportedly a range of over 200 designer furniture and homeware brands, has generated £8.9 million worth of sales to date, a turnover of £3.7m in FY14-15 and more than 30,000 customers in 100 countries.
Mooney shared:
“We already have customers in more than 100 countries, but this is about starting to consolidate the territories that we see as having real opportunities for us.”
She then commented that the collaborative crowdfunding approach had allowed the company to open up investment to a wider audience including friends, family, customers, suppliers and existing investors:
“I’m absolutely delighted to have been able to test something that was quite unknown to us and to have been as successful as we have been.”
Member of Houseology’s board, Sir Terry Leahy (former CEO, Tesco), stated:
“With the interiors sector dominated by mid to low-end players, there is significant room in the higher end of the market for a challenger brand like Houseology.com to grow.”
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