Fast growing firm raises £620,000 in crowd funding initiative

A Leeds-based mechandise company has raised just under £620,000 through a crowdfunding campaign launched at the beginning of August.

Awesome Merchandise, run by husband and wife duo Luke and Charlotte Hodson, initially pursued the Crowd Cube to raise at least £350,000 for its next phase of growth.

But less than two weeks after the company went live on Crowd Cube, this target was already reached.

At the time, Luke Hodson said: “We are delighted to have reached our goal less than two weeks after we went live on Crowd Cube!  Having so many investors involved in Awesome is really exciting for us, with many customers, friends and family now being a crucial part of our journey.

“The support and response we have had to our Crowd Cube campaign and growth plans has been really positive and encouraging and we can’t wait to get started on taking Awesome Onto the next stages.”

The Crowd Cube, which has one more day left, has now raised a total of £619,510.

The raised funds will be used to triple the company’s product range, open a factory in the USA, where it also will build a new team, create a new e-commerce platform and move to faster shipper times.

The Hodsons, who founded the business in 2005, also want to double turnover.

With 70,000 customers, Awesome Merchandise has made over 65 million items since it launched.