Maven leads £500k funding for Serene Furnishings
A West Bromwich-based furniture wholesaler is to diversify its innovative product portfolio and upgrade IT systems to accelerate its next phase of growth after sourcing fresh funding.
Maven Capital Partners has provided Serene Furnishings, one of the UK’s leading furniture wholesalers, with a £250,000 injection from its Midlands Engine Investment Fund West Midlands Debt Fund, supported by an additional £250,000 of funding from HSBC.
This investment is to support the firm’s ambitious growth strategy, which will also create three new jobs at its Hill Top Industrial Estate site.
Established in 2005, Serene Furnishing has in recent years expanded its offering from the original core business of supplying bedroom furniture to now include a broader range of living room products. A process that it plans to continue following this £500,000 investment as it makes further improvements to its product buying programme.
The investment in Serene Furnishings follows the announcement that Maven has been appointed to manage the £50m MEIF WM Debt Fund, which provides debt finance of between £100,000 and £1.5million, to high-growth potential SME businesses located in the West Midlands.
Steve Lewis, Investment director at Maven, said: “We are delighted to support Serene Furnishings’ growth with this investment. The deal is a great example of how the MEIF finance can work alongside an existing lender to provide a flexible funding package to support local job creation and business expansion.
“Serene Furnishings is a well-established business driven by a highly experienced senior management team and we look forward to working with the company as it enters a new growth stage.”
Supplying a number of national retailers, including Wayfair Stores and Dunelm, Serene Furnishings has achieved strong success following its diversification into wider living furniture – tapping into a market that recorded £17.7 billion of purchases in 2017.
Tasleem Tasab, managing director at Serene Furnishings, said: “The funding will enable us to capitalise on a wider product offering, unlocking several new markets and continuing our upward trajectory as a firm. We are excited about our future prospects and look forward to working with the team at Maven to fully exploit the opportunities available to the business.”
Grant Peggie, director at the British Business Bank, said: “It is encouraging to see how MEIF is supporting the growth of Serene Furnishings in West Bromwich including new investment into the firm’s IT systems and operations. It is also good to see that new jobs are being created in the Black Country as the company continues to diversify into new markets and grow."
The MEIF project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the ERDF as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
