Blog by Briony Phillips, Investment Activator
For the second consecutive month, we’ve seen ten companies raise equity investment in the South West. Together, they have raised a little more than £13 million with all of the raises being in excess of £300,000 and four being over £1 million.
Only two companies shared news of their investments publicly (so far), read on to find out more about them.
Liha Beauty
Liha Beauty has raised £1 million via a funding round led by private equity. The investment follows the £200,000 raised by the organic skin care brand pre-pandemic. LIHA was founded by Gloucestershire-born Liha Okunniwa and London girl Abi Oyepitan, who met at university in 1998. Whilst Abi was travelling the world as a professional athlete, competing in two Olympic games, Liha was setting up an art publishing business.
Origin
A speciality coffee roaster has secured a £3.1m investment to support the growth of the business, while continuing its commitment to improving sustainability within the industry. Origin Coffee has operations in the South West and around London. Founded in 2004 by Tom Sobey, it remains an independently-owned operation that is “bound by one central ethos” of sourcing “incredible coffee through a sustainable, triple bottom line approach”.
This article is written as part of the Investment Activator Programme (IAP) in the West of England. This programme is run by techSPARK and is kindly sponsored by TLT LLP, delaware, West of England Combined Authority, UWE, Sanderson, Engine Shed and Rocketmakers.
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