Building on its success in 2016, Simba Sleep, which produces the bed in a box solution Simba Hybrid, has just closed its latest investment round, raising £9m.
The investment, which takes the total raised to £17.5m, brings a cash injection from Henderson Global Investors, British financier Michel de Carvalho (VC of Investment Banking at Citi Inc. UK and Heineken Supervisory Board), Numis Securities, Richard Goldstein (family founded Superdrug), Julian Barnett (formerly, Polar Capital Holdings), Nigel Wray (formerly Domino’s Pizza, Saracens, Prestbury Investment Holdings and Franchise Brands Plc) and Rishi Passi (CEO Oblix Capital).
Simba Sleep reports that it has sold 45,000 mattresses since February 2016. The brand has now launched in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, North America and the Middle East, and plans to roll out in 34 countries over the next 18 months, equating to a new territory every two weeks.
The company – which is forecasting sales of over £40m in 2017 – has expanded its team from three to 54 in the past 12 months. Now employing 54 staff, two notable strategic hires include Gauti Reynisson, head of global retail and new product development manager (Ex-Tempur, Dorma) and Charles Tourny, VP of performance marketing (formerly Just Eat and Decathalon).
CEO and co-founder of Simba Sleep, James Cox says: “We’ve always wanted to innovate rather than replicate. We strove for customer satisfaction but to achieve this and stand out from the crowd, required us to really prioritise innovation. Our expansion may seem fast, but we’re doing things in a very measured way. The retail deals in Europe are replicating the successful model we executed with John Lewis in the UK.
“This third round of investment, complemented by repeat orders, consistently outstanding consumer reviews and significantly lower return rates (less than 7%) in comparison to other brands will hopefully cement our market leader position, as we roll out an exciting suite of tech-enabled sleep products throughout 2017.”
