Dragons' Den successful applicant Thrift+ announces £950k impact investment
Summary
The online charity retailer, Thrift+, which had a hugely successful appearance on Dragons Den on Easter Monday, today announced the closure of a \xa3950k impact investment into their on-demand clothing donation service. The funding round was led by the Triple Point Impact EIS fund and was further supported by angel investors from two prominent impact investment syndicates: Green Angel Syndicate and ClearlySo Impact Angels.Thrift+ makes it easy to donate your best second-hand clothes to your favourite charity, filling the gap for the 150,000 charities in the UK that do not operate high street shops, but which can now benefit from the funds generated from their supporters unwanted clothing.In response to the Covid-19 crisis, Thrift+ has seen a surge in demand for their nationwide home collection service, with people staying at home and unable to donate in the normal way to high street charity shops.Joe Metcalfe, CEO, estimates that over 50,000 bags of clothing are donated every single day in London alone. These generate over \xa31.4bn of sales in high street charity shops.Our home collection service is allowing people to continue to donate while staying safe at home, and to choose the specific cause that resonates with them right now.Thrift+ has developed the logistics, operations, and technology to rapidly process and upload large volumes of clothing. The company accepts clothing from both individuals and businesses, then sorts, photographs & uploads, before selling online. Funds can be directed to any UK registered charity.The company was founded by Joe Metcalfe, CEO, and Poppy Beer, CTO, who are supported by 3 head office staff, and 6 warehouse staff uploading up to 10,000 items each month.In the past 12 months, the business has raised over \xa3150,000 for charity and diverted 10s of thousands of items from landfill.