LONDON — Online mattress retailer Eve Sleep has successfully raised £35 million in an initial public offering on AIM, valuing the two-year-old business at £140 million.
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Online mattress retailer Eve Sleep valued at £140 million in stock market IPO
The startup has successfully raised £35 million selling shares on AIM, which it will put towards advertising and working capital.
Jas Bagniewski, CEO of eve.
Eve said on Monday that stockbroker Peel Hunt had successfully raised the sum for the company, with shares set to start trading on AIM on Thursday. Business Insider first reported that Eve was seeking to raise £35 million in a stock market listing last month.
The company, founded in 2014, says the £35 million will be put towards "advertising and marketing strategy and will be used as general working capital to support and implement the Company’s growth strategy." Early investors in the company include renown City fund manager Neil Woodford, Channel 4, venture capital fund Octopus, and former Capita CEO Paul Pindar, who also chairs the company.
Eve's sales grew from £2.6 million in its first year of trading to £12 million last year. The company says revenue growth has continued "on a similar trajectory" so far this year, it says. Eve made an EBITDA loss of £11.3 million last year.
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Unlike traditional bed retailers that sell a range of mattresses, Eve sells just one mattress that it manufacturers itself and sells for £399 for a single bed. Eve's mattresses are made from foam and compressed to make them cheaper to ship.
Eve offers buyers the opportunity to sleep on its products for 100 days and still return it, another unusual quirk for the industry. It sells its vacuum-sealed beds across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and the US.
Eve's CEO and cofounder Jas Bagniewski says in a statement:
"Today marks a new dawn in our vision to be Europe’s leading sleep brand. With our simplified direct to consumer proposition, we are disrupting a fragmented European market, which is forecast to be worth approximately £26 billion by 2019.
"The funds raised will accelerate our growth strategy including through deepening penetration within our ten existing markets, as well as expanding our product range."
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Eve Sleep is one of a number of online-only mattress retailers that have recently entered the market, seeking to bring the kind of "disruption" that other areas of retailer have faced from digital-only competitors. Rivals to Eve include British-based Simba and US company Casper, backed by Leonardo Di Caprio.
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