My 1st Years, a children’s gifts personalisation site, has secured GBP5 million in growth funding led by venture and growth investor Beringea, and supported with funds managed by Hargreave Hale.
The investment will be used to drive developments in operations, marketing and international expansion into the US.
My 1st Years is an ecommerce company that provides personalised gifts for babies and children. The company was founded by Daniel Price and Jonny Sitton in 2009, and has since become a favourite with celebrities including Dannii Minogue and Elton John as well as the royals.
The business previously secured GBP2 million in funding from high net worth individuals, including Lord David Alliance, co-founder of Coats Viyella and co-owner of N Brown Group which includes Jacamo and Simply Be in its catalogue. This brings the total amount raised by My 1st Years so far to GBP7 million.
The announcement is fresh off the back on My 1st Years launching in Harrods last month. This is the latest in a number of retail partnerships including notonthehighstreet.com, John Lewis and Selfridges.
“We always had a lot of faith in the potential of this company, but we’ve really seen that come to life in the last year or so, and it’s time for us to build on the success we’ve already had. Funding is key to the next step for us,” says Daniel Price, co-founder and joint managing director of My 1st Years.
“Women in the UK spend around GBP220 million on baby showers alone, but it really struck us that there was a huge untapped market for personalisation. When we launched the business, our aim was to plug the gap and provide quality products in the same amount of time you would have an unpersonalised item. Because we were early to the party, we’ve grown with the personalisation trend and have had to be pretty reactive, adapting our systems to ensure we are able to personalise items the same day. With this funding under our belt, we’ll be able to enhance our existing proprietary personalisation technology, as well as invest in the skills we need to do more with our data, create effective marketing campaigns and build on our international shipping by expanding into the US. We’re hugely excited to be working with investors that have a proven track record in retail, and look forward to what 2017 will bring.”
The company was introduced to Beringea by their corporate finance adviser, Eleanor Wilkinson at ABG Corporate Finance, last year.
“Daniel and Jonny are natural entrepreneurs,” says Maria Wagner, investment director at Beringea. “What they have achieved so far is particularly impressive given this is their first job out of university. Not only have they spotted a gap in the market and had the guts to go for it, they have also managed to secure the support of veteran ecommerce professionals, broker relationships with leading retailers in the country and create impressive buzz amongst the press and consumers. Their achievements so far give me immense confidence that they can really push on to the next level with support from us. We look forward to joining them on their journey.”
