Trouva announces £17m investment to further fuel European expansion

Trouva, the online destination for unique products from the best independent boutiques around the world, today reveals it has raised £17 million in further investment to accelerate international expansion. The funding was led by Octopus Ventures, alongside BGF, C4 Ventures, Downing Ventures and LocalGlobe.

Launched in London in September 2015 by Alex Loizou and Mandeep Singh, Trouva is one of the top five most exciting high-growth startups in the UK (Startups 100 Index 2019). By enabling customers to discover beautiful, hard-to-find products, handpicked by the world’s best curators from Shoreditch to Stockholm, Trouva ensures they no longer miss out on finding just the right thing for them, wherever in the world it may be hiding. The marketplace connects its network of independents with a wider global customer base they wouldn’t otherwise have access to, powered by their proprietary software platform for bricks-and-mortar shops, handling everything from inventory management through to logistics.

The funding round, which includes the conversion of a £7 million convertible note, will support Trouva in further establishing itself as the global destination for the best of independent retail. The business expanded internationally for the first time in June 2018 with the launch of 20 Berlin boutiques. It has since grown rapidly and now brings together over 200,000 products from more than 800 independents from over 300 towns and cities, including Paris, Lisbon, Rome and Barcelona. Today, 40% of Trouva’s total retailer network is made up of bricks-and-mortar shops across outside of the UK, across 12 European countries.

Along with continuing to build its network of independent boutiques, Trouva is also set to grow international demand, starting with the launch of its German website. Over the last four years, Trouva has helped customers across the UK to shop expertly curated product ranges that are otherwise hard to find. The launch of trouva.de will now open up the best independents to German customers so that they too can discover those unique, hard-to-find pieces.

News of the latest funding and international expansion plans comes as Trouva announces the appointment of Juliet Warkentin as Chief Marketing Officer. After appointing former Uber and Betfair exec, Niall Wass, as Chair in November 2018, Trouva continues to build a world-class leadership team to take on the legacy online marketplaces. Warkentin was previously Director of Marketing at Amazon Fashion Europe. Prior to that, she was Editor-in-chief at Drapers and Marie Claire before taking on the roles of Editorial Director at Redwood and Content Director at WGSN.

Mandeep Singh, Co-founder at Trouva, says: “At Trouva, we envision a world where beautiful offline inventory is easily available to all. Over the last 12 months we’ve taken important steps in achieving this by further extending our platform to the greatest independents across Europe, nearly doubling our network of retailers, and driving a seven-fold increase in the number of boutiques earning over £100,000 in sales through Trouva.com. We will be using this latest investment to grow international demand and are excited to officially launch in Germany as we start to broaden our customer base and expand into new European markets.”

“As we continue to scale rapidly, building a senior leadership team who can help devise and execute strategies for growth remains an ongoing priority that will be supported by this funding round. We’re thrilled to bring Juliet onboard as CMO with her experience developing and managing world-famous brands.”

Simon Andrews, investor at BGF, comments: “Trouva has built an effective, easy-to-use marketplace for its rapidly growing customer base over the last four years, generating a fantastic reputation and strong track record with independent European retailers. The ambitious team continues to drive growth both in the UK and internationally, and we’re excited to be supporting them on this exciting next step of their journey.”