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British Design Fund
About
The British Design Fund (The “Fund”) supports enterprise and innovation in the UK by investing in, supporting and mentoring, early stage, well designed, product businesses. The Fund works with extraordinary entrepreneurs with scalable products who are ready to accelerate growth and build long term value and thriving stand-out businesses.
The Fund only works with British companies that have designed physical products to address a clear user need and which solve real problems.
"Its great to have a fund that really knows design, knows products and has been there before and faced many of the challenges we will face."
Tim Antos, CEO, Kokoon TechnologyInvestment focus
Currently there are few funding mechanisms specifically dedicated to early stage product businesses. The British Design Fund believes that these early stage product businesses need not just capital but also mentoring and expertise along the way to ensure they grow into successful companies.
The British Design Fund seeks to work with extraordinary entrepreneurs, with innovative and scalable products, who are ready to accelerate growth and build long term value and thriving stand-out businesses.
Along with the cash investment, which is made in exchange for an equity stake in the business, the British Design Fund can also provide support and mentoring across key areas such as sales, marketing, international distribution, IP, legal, licensing and contracts, financial planning, stock control, design management and manufacturing.
The British Design Fund is managed by Sapphire Capital Partners LLP, who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 565716. Twenty20 Mentoring provide the market expertise to identify and accelerate the growth of each investee company. Twenty20 Mentoring Limited is not a FCA authorised firm and will not be providing any investment services or undertaking any regulated activities in connection with the Fund.
Key team members
Damon Bonser - CEO
Damon is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years’ experience of building and running product design and manufacturing businesses. Damon knows how to bootstrap start-up product businesses and how to launch brands into global marketplaces.
Track Record; Launched 400+ products across consumer electronics, health and beauty and numerous private label for leading retail brands. Built a multi-million product design and manufacturing business which was acquired through a trade sale.
John Mathers - Design Director
Former CEO of the Design Council with forty years’ experience in the brand and design industry, across retail, FMCG and consultancy. John knows what it takes for a brand to establish itself internationally and the challenges faced getting there.
Track Record; John has led numerous turn-rounds, growing a £15m t/o business at 20% YoY growth and increasing profits by 50%. John has also transformed the Design Council from being 90% reliant upon government grants down to 50%.
David Kremer - Director
David has over 25 years ‘experience running Seven Towns, a multi-million toy and game business, and is the co-founder of Rubik’s Brand Limited. David knows how to scale a product business whether through licencing or the manufacturing and wholesaler model.
Track Record; David built Seven Towns to £8m t/o, sold a 15% stake in Rubik's Brand Ltd for $40m and also led a management buyout of Toybrokers & John Adams at a £3m valuation and built to a £30m t/o.
Investment opportunities
We are working to make investments from this manager available on our platform.
Investment opportunities are added daily, please check back soon.
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Example portfolio companies
We currently have more than 20 companies in the BDF portfolio across a number of different sectors - go to www.britishdesignfund.co.uk/portfolio/ to see the complete range.
Here are some examples:
**Calla**; Elegant and stylish heels and shoes for women who suffer from bunions. Designed by a team of shoe designers, podiatrists and shoe fitters to create a range of beautiful shoes that fit and support your feet. 170% growth in sales in year 1 following investment. Over 30% of sales coming from repeat customers. 3x increase in valuation within 18 months following investment.
**KTech**; Manufacturers of mBox, a tool that makes wiring the connections to systems in your home, such as boilers, faster and safer via a simple method of securing electrical wires with clamps rather than screw terminals. Over 10,000 units sold in the first year of launch and listings secured with three of the UK’s largest chains of hardware retailers.
**Eiger Desks**; Retro fitted desk accessory which converts a sitting desk into a standing one, encouraging both children in schools and adults in the workplace to stand more throughout the day, as opposed to sitting at their desks. Installed in over 160 schools in the UK, achieving sales growth of 163% in the first year following funding.
**Hidealoo**; A patented discreet retractable toilet mechanism for the purpose of space optimisation.
**Gecko Glazing**; A unique, easy-to-install secondary glazing system which cuts window heat loos and emissions by up to 50%, whilst being 80%more cost-effective than traditional double glazing alternatives. The company has doubled its turnover and staff within the first two years of trading.
**White Motorcycle Concepts**; Reducing CO2 in the motorcycle industry with disruptive technologies to significantly enhance the efficiencies of electric motorcycles. The company is on track to turnover nearly £1m by the end of its second year of trading.
**Peequal**; The UK's first stand-alone, touch-free women's urinal to drastically reduce queuing times within the events and entertainments sectors. The product has already been featured on the BBC's One Show band was piloted at last year's Glastonbury Festival.
**Matter;** Pioneering filtration technology solutions for capturing, harvesting and recycling microplastics released from washing machines. The business has already secured contracts with some of the major washing machine manufacturers and has recently raised further investment at a considerably higher valuation than the BDF's initial funding.