PointOV, touted as an ‘ethical Amazon’, has received £800,000 of backing from a syndicate of investors.
The company, founded in 2004 by Vic Morgan and Andy Redfern, sells a range of eco-friendly and fair trade products through its website www.ethicalsuperstore.com.
The business gained £200,000 of funding in June last year in order to get its e-commerce services underway and has achieved revenues of £1m and doubled staff since then.
Morgan and Redfern decided to go back to their investor, North Star Equity Investor (NSEI), for the current round and has gained a further £500,000 from it, plus £300,000 from angel investors.
The Newcastle-based company says it now plans to expand its premises, boost turnover to £3m and double staff again.
PointOV director Vic Morgan said: “The way the business has grown over the past nine months has been phenomenal.
“We realised that there was a real gap in the market because a lot of companies were selling either fair trade goods or green goods whereas we are offering products that cater for the entire lifestyle of the ethical consumer."
“Our team’s e-commerce expertise and passion for ethical trading has led to some popular service innovations, including an online service for customising gift hampers and search tools tailored to ethical products.
“We even offer a carbon offset home delivery programme, in which you can add £1 to your order to offset the carbon emissions in connection with your home delivery. This is one example of how we try to creatively involve our customers in reducing environmental impact.”
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