Lick Announces £22m Series A Investment

Lick, the modern-day consumers’ go-to decorating brand, is announcing a $22 million Series A investment. The round, led by OMERS Ventures with participation from existing investors Felix Capital and contributions from industry-leading entrepreneurs and PE investors including Magnus Rausing, Alex Chesterman and Kathaka, the family office of Caroline Rupert of Richemont will be used to expand their product offering, launch new sustainability initiatives, and grow its already thriving community of home decorators across the globe.
 
Since its launch, Lick has championed a people-powered movement, utilising a unique content-rich approach and high-touch quality service, designed with today’s modern consumer in mind. The expertly curated range of sustainable paint, wallpaper, blinds and supplies, sold through an omnichannel distribution, has helped Lick to grow a dedicated community of decorators (185,200 strong) from first-timers to grand-designers who’ve become a driving force within the brand.  

This community has been instrumental in driving the brands staggering growth, achieving a $7 million revenue run-rate within the first 8 months, with Lick seeing an 830% in the last 9 months alone.  

Lick now wants to make its decorators’ official partners in Lick, with Co-Founders Lucas London and Sam Bradley inviting all Lick decorators to join their latest funding round to raise an additional $1.4 million via a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Scheduled to go live on Monday 7th June, the campaign has already seen huge interest with 4,000 members of Lick’s community pre-registered to invest - making the round 2.6x oversubscribed ahead of going live. Evidence that Lick decorators are committed to both the future of the brand and the home-decorating sector, which has experienced exponential growth over the last year. 

This latest investment and crowdfunding will bring Lick’s total raised to $29 million, as the brand looks toward international expansion taking on the home decorating market, which is predicted to grow close to $1 trillion by 2027. 

Speaking of the investment Lick Co-Founder, Lucas London says: “We’re really excited to be partnering with the OMERS Ventures and Felix Capital teams – both to expand our product offering and also inspire even more people to decorate, all around the world. At Lick we offer paint, wallpapers, blinds and decorating supplies, but what we’re really building is a people-powered decorating movement; and confidence in decorators of every level to transform their spaces, and make their homes their own.” 

“Already we’ve helped make over 30,000 houses feel like home, listened to our decorators and launched new categories and product extensions, built a superb 38-person strong team bringing in expertise from FarFetch and Charlotte Tilbury, and planted enough trees to cover over 72 football pitches and removed the equivalent of 122,504 plastic bottles from the ocean. In short, our curated offering and unique approach to content are bringing a fresh look to decorating”

“In the short time since its launch, Lick has completely shaken up this sector, by re-thinking every step of the customer journey from inspiration to decoration, for the modern digital-native consumer and professional decorator”, says OMERS Ventures Managing Partner, Harry Briggs. “We believe this team and this brand have what it takes to become global category leaders and help millions of people transform their homes.”  

Lick has successfully cut through a competitive market by working for a consumer which has previously been ignored by mass-marketed off-line DIY brands. The sector was in need of modernisation, with just 4% of all paint in the UK sold online before COVID-19, going against the spending power of millennials, who are actively championing a D2C approach, providing Lick with the perfect opening to claim their own market share. 

Felix Capital Co-Founder, Antoine Nussenbaum says: “We have identified “building Home as a heaven” as a central behavioral shift in people’s lives, somehow accelerated by the recent pandemic we’re going through. Lick is building a modern branded platform far more relevant to customers - combining a best-in-class shopping experience, together with a sense of community and purpose. It’s been less than a year since our original investment and our conviction has only increased towards Lucas, Sam and the amazing team they’re building at Lick”

Over the last year, the interiors market has flourished providing investors with great sector confidence, enabling start-ups like Lick to grow at a rapid rate. After spending more time than ever before in the home, consumers have developed a new-found appreciation for their homes as our own spaces have become more important than ever to how we feel and how we represent ourselves. Inspiring a golden age of decorating, influenced by lockdown which forced interiors to the forefront of consumers priorities. This trend has meant there has never been a more exciting time to be a start-up brand in the home-decor sector, supporting the nation to make their homes their own.

Source : Lick

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