Two schoolmates from Bristol who started their online furniture business aged just 18 have now made £17 million in just seven years.
Monty George and Dan Beckles, both aged 25, started Furniturebox straight after leaving Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School in Salisbury. They are now making annual profits of £2.4 million which are being reinvested so they can rival Dunelm, Habitat and Ikea as one of the UK’s leading furniture brands.
They are part of a new breed of UK ‘Gen Z entrepreneurs’ creating ecommerce businesses worth millions. They employ 53 staff at the new HQ in Chippenham which has transformed their fortunes.
READ MORE: Bristol pub owner accuses energy company of ‘blatant profiteering' after £7K bill
Dan said: “Moving into the new warehouse has been incredibly exciting because we can increase our capacity by fivefold and it is so easy to dispatch orders being right next to the M4.
“We are running an incredibly efficient model which means we can easily access all the markets which are important to us - from our own website to other big online sellers such as Amazon, Robert Dyas and many more.
“The business has really grown over the last three years and now we are looking to expand internationally with that solid foundation behind us.”
Monty is a serial entrepreneur who was turning over up to £200,000 a year selling products such as computer tablets and phone cases on eBay when he was still at school.
He persuaded Dan to turn down a place at university and join him in setting up Furniturebox in 2015. They chose furniture because few companies then were selling furniture online and there was a gap in the market.
Monty said: “I could see that there was a huge market for furniture and it was very under-developed online. I bought a couple of containers of furniture and persuaded Dan to join forces with me to sell it online. That is how the business started.
“It has been an amazing seven years of growth. We know that the model we have now is highly efficient for profit generation.
“We feel we can roll that out in other markets - in America, Germany and elsewhere. In the furniture industry, there aren’t really any other ecommerce companies doing the same thing as us.”
Growth exploded during Covid with most furniture shops closed and customers stuck at home with cash to burn and sales have risen from £9.4 million in 2020 to £16.7 million.
Feeling curious? Follow Curiously on TikTok , Instagram , Facebook and Twitter .
Last year, Furniturebox was ranked as the fastest growing small business in the south west in the Sunday Times’ list of the UK’s most successful private companies, as well picking up the same accolade in the popular ‘ Lightning 50 ’ league table which tracks growth rates for hundreds of online businesses across the UK.
Dan said: “We saw huge, huge growth during Covid. Customer service is really important to us - we have such good reviews and lots of people started buying furniture online for the first time knowing that we were a trusted brand.”
Just 10% of UK entrepreneurs are from a BAME background (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and Dan is proud to be flying the flag for diversity as a businessman from a mixed race family.
He said: “I hope that my example will lead to more people from a BAME background starting their own businesses.”
Dan and Monty were football-mad schoolboys at a rugby-playing grammar school. Goalkeeper Monty played for the Bournemouth and Portsmouth youth teams while central defender Dan was on Bristol Rovers’ books.
It was their closeness on the pitch which made them realise they could work well together in business.
Monty said: “We bonded because we wanted to play football whereas our school pushed us towards rugby."
Dan added: “We saw how competitive we both were on the football field and we knew that would work in business.”
Being based in the south west has been crucial in their success. Bristol has a huge pool of tech talent and the transport links near to their new warehouse are the key to fast deliveries.
Monty said: “We have so much talent in the south west. We would never head to London because we are so much happier here.”
They are often approached by venture capitalists asking if they are interested in selling but they want to grow the business together.
Dan said: “The scope of what we can achieve in the future is huge and we don’t want anyone else doing that.”
Up next:
Ghosts and hidden treasure at Blackbeard’s favourite pub in Bristol
Bristol Old City pub Horts set to reopen after major refurbishment including new boutique rooms
Bristol shops, bars and restaurants that have announced closure in 2023
Wild Beer's bar at Wapping Wharf closes as landlords take over site
