A Bristol-based luxury handbag company has secured a six-figure sum as part of a Series A funding round.
Amschela, which featured in London Fashion Week earlier in the year, said the investment would allow the company to scale its domestic and international market operations - and provide opportunities to young people in the South West.
The lead investor for the round was Bristol & Bath Regional Capital (BBRC) - the West of England's first home-grown place-based investor.
Amschela was founded by former lawyer Keri Andriana in 2017 and launched in 2018. Self-taught designer Ms Andriana established her Redland-based business, which sells clutches, shoulder bags and totes, after attending a local sewing class and watching YouTube tutorials.
The company has garnered the attention of Tatler and Vogue, and now has customers all over the UK and a growing international community in the US, Europe and Australia.
She said: “This is exciting news for the brand and its young dynamic team. I am extremely grateful for the overwhelming support that the brand has received from the investment team at BBRC as we now look to scale and grow the brand. We look forward to working with them."
Ms Andriana said the company was still looking for further co-investors - and the funding round would remain open. She added: "This is the first major step to scale the brand and we are welcoming interest from co-investment investors with a strong desire to support an ethical affordable luxury brand with a strong reputation in the fashion community."
Ms Andriana has become part an elite group of black female businesswomen in the UK to secure Series A capital investment. A 2020 report by not-for-profit organisation Extend Ventures, found that under 1% of venture capital investment had gone to black entrepreneurs in the last 10 years. Between 2009 and 2019, just 0.24% went to teams of black entrepreneurs - 38 businesses in total - the research said. Out of those, only one black female founder raised Series A funding across the 10-year period.
Cllr Asher Craig, deputy mayor of Bristol, said the lack of investment in businesses run by black women was "shameful" and the sector needed to build "anti-racist investment practices" to tackle "systemic discrimination".
“Women entrepreneurs face many obstacles when securing investment for their businesses," she said. "For black women, there are even more hurdles to climb. I am delighted that Keri has secured investment capital to inject into her award-winning brand Amschela, a Bristol success story - from BBRC."
It follows a successful few months for Ms Andriana, who was a finalist at the BristolLive Business Awards 2021.
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