SEP leads £26m funding round for LoveCrafts

Kenny Wastell
25 April 2017

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Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has led a ТЃ26m funding round for LoveCrafts, an online community for crafts.

Existing backers Balderton Capital and Highland Capital Partners Europe also took part in the round.

Following the funding round, the company will invest in international expansion across Europe and Australasia, as well as bolster its operational activities and invest in product development. It also hopes to create new titles dedicated to additional crafts that complement its existing brands, Loveknitting.com and Lovecrochet.com.

As part of the deal, SEP partner Stuart Paterson will take a seat on the LoveCrafts board.

Previous funding
Balderton led a $7.5m round for LoveCrafts in March 2015. The business had previously raised $2.5m in seed capital from True Capital and Venrex.

In November 2015, Highland Europe led a $20m series-B round for LoveCrafts.

Company
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in London, LoveCrafts is an online community for craftspeople, with sites dedicated to crafts including knitting and crochet. The platform merges a social network, video tutorials, a content marketplace and an online store.

LoveCrafts has a headcount of 150, up from 80 at the time of its series 2015 series-B round. It has additional distribution centres in Missouri, in the US, and Manchester, UK.

People
Scottish Equity Partners – Stuart Paterson (partner).
Balderton Capital – Daniel Waterhouse (partner).
Highland Capital Partners Europe – Laurence Garrett (partner).
LoveCrafts – Edward Griffith, Nigel Whiteoak, Cherry Freeman (founders).