WorldStores is an online home and living products retailer that also operates Casafina, a membership-based flash sales platform. The company sells furniture and related products through its e-commerce channels. New capital will fund strategic developments including an in-house fulfilment fleet to enable a 1-hour window next-day delivery to more than 90% of the UK population, seven days a week. WorldStores also plans to invest heavily in customer acquisition to grow Casafina. Management reports annual run-rate revenues in excess of £100 million. The company is positioning itself as an online, scalable alternative to traditional furniture retailers. WorldStores operates an Amazon-style ecommerce marketplace focused on home and garden products. It currently ranges more than 500,000 product lines and connects over 800 suppliers directly to its technology platform. Supplier integration enables next-day or day-of-choice delivery on 80% of the items it sells. The company reported sales growth of 50% last year and added more than 200,000 new customers in the past 12 months, targeting £75 million of sales in 2013. WorldStores plans to use the new funding to grow its supplier network and further expand its product range, aiming to leverage breadth of choice versus competitors like IKEA. WorldStores operates an e-commerce platform selling products for the home and garden through a network of specialist web stores. The company currently runs 77 specialist web stores, including BedroomWorld.co.uk, GardenFurnitureWorld.co.uk and ShedsWorld.co.uk. Founders and co-CEOs are Joe Murray and Richard Tucker. WorldStores has raised new funding to support expansion into additional product categories and to further develop its delivery and service offering. The company announced a £8.5m funding round to execute these plans. As part of the deal, Advent Venture Partners and existing investor Balderton Capital are involved and a partner from Advent will join the board.

Total raised

$67M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2015