London-based online retailer Spoke raises £8.5m

Date

September 2019

Sectors

Digital media and content

Deal Type

Later stage VC

Our Role

Buy side

About Spoke

Founded in 2013, sales at Spoke has grown six-fold in the last three years, as the company sold some 300,000 pairs of trousers to more than 100,000 customers. The brand harnesses technology and its DTC business model to offer an unrivaled 200+ sizes of trousers, and a fit that is virtually bespoke. It has proved to be a real factor in building brand loyalty, with an impressive repeat purchase rate, as well as driving its early success in the US.

About BGF

Business Growth Fund (BGF) is an independent private equity company with up to £2.5 billion in capital. The fund initially invests between £2m and £10m into privately owned and AIM-listed, profitable companies providing growth capital in the form of long-term equity investment.

About the deal

Spoke has received £8.5m in new investment in a Series B funding round, led by BGF and supported by existing shareholders Oxford Capital, Forward Partners and 24Haymarket. The money will be used to fund further tech enhancements to its “Fit Finder” platform, including the use of data scientists to enhance and improve its predictive capability, as well as data mining.

It also plans to double its business in the US market, which is currently its second largest market outside of the UK, as well as further geographical expansion. There will also be product range extensions and a step up in marketing, which includes a first TV campaign launching today.

Our work

We acted as financial adviser to BGF on their investment into Spoke.

WY Partners were a pleasure to work with. They provided rigorous financial analysis but did so in a commercial manner; focusing on the key issues and helping us to improve our understanding of the business. We look forward to working with them again soon.

Chris Jones

Investor

BGF

Deal team