Triathlon apparel company, HUUB, has announced that it secured £840,000 of investment in the first 72 hours of its crowdfunding initiative.
The Derby-based brand launched its Crowdcube crowdfunding initiative this week and has already beat its £250,000 minimum target with the help of double Olympic medallist brothers, Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, who were the first to invest.
HUUB said the funds will go towards scaling the company’s direct-to-consumer offering; expanding the product range in its fast-growing cycling category; catering for the increasing number of women taking up endurance sports; and, growing the company’s presence in international markets, most notably the US and Germany.
Originating in the swimwear and triathlon categories, HUUB’s product range is focused on endurance sports. In 2019, HUUB turned over £4.8m and from 2015 to 2019, the company said it has achieved average sales growth of 32% year-on-year.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, HUUB says its 2020 turnover is on a par with last year’s, as endurance sport take-up has “soared” during lockdown. The business said it has experienced an increase of 681 per cent in cycling apparel sales, as well as a “significant diversification” in audience demographic for their products across the board. Women’s wetsuit sales are up 68 per cent and there has also been a shift in the average customer age.
HUUB founder, Dean Jackson, who started the business in 2011, said: “We are at a really exciting stage of our growth, with new categories performing incredibly strongly and our product range across the board continuing to appeal to professional and amateur athletes alike. Our average order value is up significantly – up 63 per cent in the last six months – and our direct to consumer business is growing rapidly too.”
He continued: “Our Crowdcube crowdfunding campaign is designed to help accelerate the growth we are experiencing on so many fronts and, I believe, offers a really exciting opportunity for those in the endurance sport community and beyond to invest in a brand that is on a steep upwards trajectory.”
As well as the partnership with the Brownlee brothers, HUUB also have relationships with current female world triathlon champion Georgia Taylor-Brown, world triathlon series medallist Jess Learmonth and cycling world cup winner Dan Bigham.
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