WorldStores, the UK online retailer and flash sales platform for home and living products, has announced that a consortium led by Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division has invested £25m in the company. The investment will support the company’s strategic developments, including:
- The creation of an in-house fulfilment fleet to enable one-hour window next-day delivery of large items such as furniture to more than 90% of the UK population seven days a week
- The growth of the company’s Casafina membership platform
- Continued development of the company’s technology platform and product offering
“2014 has been another strong year for WorldStores with the company now delivering annual run-rate revenues in excess of £100m and shows no sign of abating” said Joe Murray, Co-CEO and co-founder of WorldStores. He added: “We are delighted to welcome Goldman Sachs as new shareholder to the company and are pleased to have gained the trust of such a formidable investor to support our vision for the Company in this important growth stage”.
Andrew Wolff, MD and head of Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division for Europe, Middle East, Africa and co-head of Asia, says: “We have been impressed by the success of WorldStores and are pleased to back such a high-quality founder led management team. We see favourable dynamics in the UK online furniture market and share the management team’s vision to strengthen the company’s leadership position and deliver value to its customers.” As part of the funding round, David Reis, executive director and head of Technology Investments at Goldman Sachs MBD in Europe, will join the Advisory Board of WorldStores.
Richard Tucker, Co-CEO and Co-founder of WorldStores, summarized the funding round as follows: “We are very excited by the opportunities ahead and delighted to have such a strong investor base to support our growth strategy. We will now build on our leading position in the UK online home and living market to offer our customers a continuously improving service and value proposition. This new funding round also enables us to further scale-up our flash sales business Casafina which has quickly established itself as a trusted brand following its launch in late 2013.”
The company’s existing investor base including Balderton Capital, Advent Ventures and Serena Capital participated in the founding round. “WorldStores has continued its impressive track record and we are delighted to reaffirm our commitment to this success story,” said Mark Evans, general partner at Balderton Capital.
Alex Birch, partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants, which advised on the transaction, says: “We see evidence that consumers will continue to migrate online in the home and garden categories. We believe that the company’s extensive product offering, differentiated delivery model and highly scalable technology platform position WorldStores very well to win a share of this growth.”
