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Bower Collective raises £2.1 million in seed stage funding – Oxford Capital led round

  • Online retail platform for sustainable home and personal care products on a mission to eliminate plastic waste
  • Oxford Capital and Doehler Ventures led the round alongside prominent angel investors
  • Delivered rapid growth since its 2020 launch – 30% MOM revenue increase
  • Built a highly engaged community of over 60,000 consumers
  • Market for consumer subscriptions estimated to grow from $64 billion in 2020 to more than $263 billion in 2025

 Bower Collective, the sustainable consumer goods business has raised £2.1 million in seed stage fundraising.  The round led by Oxford Capital and Doehler Ventures will accelerate the growth of the business through packaging innovation and new product development to increase market share.

The brand offers a range of sustainable home and personal care products and is on a mission to eliminate plastic waste. It has developed an innovative approach to ecommerce by providing a closed loop, plastic waste-free solution. Users subscribe to a range of products that are supplied in refill packages.  Customers return the empty packages in pre-paid envelopes to Bower for reuse and recycling, ensuring zero plastic waste in their supply chain.

Since launch, the company has experienced rapid growth, building a community of over 60,000 consumers and delivering 30% MOM growth in revenues.  It is in the final stages of B-Corporation certification, part of a community of purpose led businesses, and has launched its first Impact Report which highlights the significant sustainable impact the business has already made.  This includes protecting (to date) 20,367m2 of endangered sea grass as part of its partnership with the Marine Conservation Society.  For every purchase made with Bower Collective, it will make a donation to help protect 1m2 of endangered seagrass as part of its mission to eliminate plastic waste from the natural environment and support biodiversity.

Backed by funding from Innovate UK, Bower is currently working on a next generation reusable packaging system, which will allow the business to reuse and refill at significant scale. This will ensure a closed loop so that no packaging ends up in landfill, incineration or the natural environment. It aims to launch this new packaging in Autumn 2021.

While Oxford Capital and Doehler Ventures are the first institutional investors into the business, a number of prominent angel investors also participated in the round including Dharmash Mistry.  In 2020, Bower Collective graduated from the Founders Factory accelerator programme supported by Reckitt, the global consumer goods company.

Nick Torday, Co-Founder and CEO, Bower Collective commented: “At Bower we are passionate about creating a transformative sustainable solution within the home and personal care market and are really proud of the exceptional talent that we’ve attracted to build the brand going forwards. This fundraising round will enable us to accelerate the growth of the business, continue driving innovation across product and packaging while taking advantage of the rapid growth of subscription services.”

David Mott, Founding Partner at Oxford Capital commented: “We are really proud to be backing co-founders Nick and Marcus who launched the business with a strong purpose to eliminate plastic waste in the home.  Since launch, the rapid rise of sales and subscriptions has been encouraging and the feedback from customers has been exceptional.  We love to back companies with a strong purpose, and we believe Bower Collective can make a real impact as it continues to grow.”

Bower Collective was founded by friends Nick Torday and Marcus Hill, their inspiration is the Bowerbird – famous for recycling brightly coloured plastic scraps to decorate its nest, or Bower.  Nick’s background was running a digital and technology consultancy that included clients such as the UN, WWF and Amnesty International, helping to solve major global social and environmental issues. Marcus founded and built London Bio Packaging, one of the UK’s leading providers of biodegradable packaging for the food industry, which he then sold to the FTSE 100 company Bunzl. Both share a passion for sustainable business.

Meta title: Bower Collective raises £2.1 million in seed stage funding – Oxford Capital led round

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Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  1. You could lose all the money you invest
    1. If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invested. Most start-up businesses fail.
  2. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong
    1. Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here.
    2. Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
  3. You won’t get your money back quickly
    1. Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.
    2. The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.
    3. If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.
  4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
    1. Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
    2. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest
  5. The value of your investment can be reduced
    1. The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.
    2. These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.