Bath-based online wedding gift list group Prezola is looking to unwrap further expansion after receiving an innovation loan from Barclays.
The group has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Dom and Ali Beaven and now employs 50 people.
In 2016 it acquired Getting Married – the UK’s most popular wedding website in – and last year received £3m funding from BGF, the UK’s most active investor in small and mid-sized companies, triggering a new phase of growth.
Prezola, which has its head office on Queen Square, also more than doubled the size of its warehouse on Westbury’s Woodland Estate to 13,000 sq ft last year to handle increased activity.
Now with the ‘substantial’ loan from Barclays, its annual turnover of £12m is set to rise to £20m.
The firm helps couples to create stylish, modern wedding gift lists sourcing thousands of wedding gifts for newlyweds across the UK.
Customers can choose from more than 50,000 products from 500 of the UK’s leading high street and online retailers, many unique to Prezola and not available from other wedding gift list companies.
These include premium brands such as The White Company, Le Creuset, Jo Malone, Dyson and Habitat alongside more ‘quirky’ gift options including vinyl records, wall art and experiences such as Virgin Balloon Flights. The service includes bespoke gift wrapping and delivery.
Prezola is the first Bath business to benefit from the bank’s new ‘innovation finance’ product targeted at high-growth and innovative businesses.
Prezola plans to use the additional funds to accelerate organic growth by further developing its e-commerce domestically and internationally.
Dom Beaven, a former director at Bath-based Future Publishing and head of digital and social media at Comic Relief, said: “Following the investment by the BGF, Prezola has continued to rapidly expand and we were looking for a banking partner to support our continued development.
“We explored a number of funding options and felt that the Barclays team in Bath were incredibly supportive and demonstrated that they fully understood our market proposition and recognised the potential of the business to achieve rapid growth.
“This latest funding also provides us with the opportunity to develop our new working relationship and we are pleased that Barclays will now be working with us to fulfil our future growth ambitions.”
Barclays’ Bath corporate relationship director Martin Crook added: “As part of our plans at Barclays to enhance our high-growth offering to the market we are extending our lending capabilities and credit appetite in the retail sector for ambitious, entrepreneurial businesses like Prezola.
“The innovation finance enables us to offer greater support to the market by allowing earlier lending to the most promising of high-growth companies for all qualifying high-growth companies, allowing more funds to be re-invested into the business.
“The UK economy needs innovation and innovators need finance. In offering Innovation Finance, it enables us to provide additional funding solutions, supporting more businesses in the UK with the potential to be future blue-chip companies.”
Bristol-based BGF investor Alex Garfitt, who joined Prezola’s board following its investment last year, added: “The additional support from Barclays is another strong endorsement of Dom, Ali and the team, and their future growth strategy.
“The Prezola website and brand has been gaining significant traction among customers and premium stockists and, along with the management team, we’re looking forward to the continued innovation and expansion of the business.”
The Barclays loan will be backed by a guarantee from the European Investment Fund (EIF) and has been enabled by the InnovFin initiative with financial backing from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
Pictured, from left: Martin Crook of Barclays with Prezola CEO Dom Beaven and finance director Jeremy French
