Seasalt celebrates £120k investment from Business Catalyst Fund
Cornwall-based Seasalt, the fast-growing coastal fashion brand, has secured a £120,000 investment from the Business Catalyst Fund to support its continued growth.
Seasalt, headquartered in Falmouth, has grown from having one shop in Penzance in the early 1980s into a multi-million pound turnover business with 200 staff and 14 stores in the South West and Guernsey, and over 350 wholesale stockists around the UK, and internationally.
In the last year it has started supplying John Lewis department stores (currently nine and due to expand to 20 this year), has increased its online offering and introduced its first mail order catalogue.
The investment from the Business Catalyst Fund is part of a project totalling £300,000 to introduce a new product lifecycle management system that will support the company's continued growth and create 23 new jobs.
The Business Catalyst Fund is a £5 million fund to help eligible businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly improve productivity and create jobs. Seasalt's application was assisted by the corporate finance team at Francis Clark in Truro.
Neil Chadwick, joint managing director at Seasalt, said: "Seasalt is an innovative business designing new products all the time and exploring new sales channels at home and abroad, so efficient product management is vital. This investment will help us manage our growth and ensure we continue to meet customers' expectations."
David Bullen from Francis Clark, who handled Seasalt's Business Catalyst Fund application, said: "Seasalt is a fantastic Cornish success story that is creating quality jobs and promoting the Cornwall brand far and wide. The Business Catalyst Fund is designed to support businesses like this that want to step up a gear and move to the next level.
"Francis Clark helped Seasalt with a successful grant application in 2010 that led directly to the recruitment of 24 new staff, so we are delighted to be involved in the latest stage of the company's development.
"Despite the fragile economic recovery we are still seeing growth-minded businesses in Cornwall coming forward with investment proposals, and that is very encouraging."
The £5 million available through the Business Catalyst Fund has come from the Government's Regional Growth Fund following a successful bid from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The fund is managed by Cornwall Development Company on behalf of the LEP and Cornwall Council.
Chris Pomfret, chairman of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, said: "Businesses told us very early on that a lack of finance was holding back growth which is why we bid into the Regional Growth Fund, including the £5m for Business Catalyst Fund, that could be managed and invested locally to stimulate growth and job creation.
"Seasalt employs highly skilled staff from graphic designers and fine artists, to logistics experts and textile designers. This investment will help fuel the company's growth ambitions and ultimately create 23 more quality jobs in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly."
