Valentte began 15 years ago as a modest market stall and is now a multi-million-pound success story. Manufacturing a range of home fragrances and skin care products, Valentte started with just a handful of staff, touring local consumer shows as a pop-up craft trader.
“For the first ten years or so we were a pretty small business,” explains co-founder and Chief Executive, Luke Bream. “We had about five staff and were doing things like county shows, RHS flower shows, and the Horse Trials at Badminton and Burghley. Then Covid came along and that was a huge change.”
With consumer shows cancelled during the pandemic lockdowns, Valentte was compelled to pivot online.
“We did have an online business, but it was really tiny,” Luke continues. “So, we took the Bounce Back loan and started advertising on Facebook. In that first week, we spent £1,000 pounds on ads and by the end of that first year, we’d spent about a million on ads. Today we’re about fifty times bigger than we were in 2019, with a staff of over 200.”
Luke attributes easily accessible finance from MaxCap as pivotal to this growth. “We’re a direct-to-consumer brand. We manufacture everything that we sell. We deal with all our own fulfilment and ship directly to our customers. We do everything, right from the beginning to the end. That level of growth consumes a lot of money. The loans from MaxCap have provided crucial working capital for that expansion
“We keep coming back to MaxCap because the support they offer is fantastic. They’re amazingly easy to work with and I can get an almost immediate decision from them. The original application process with them was super easy, and the renewals are simple and straightforward. Plus, they always reach out to us as soon as we’re eligible for more funds, which happens regularly. Having that facility to keep topping up is really helpful.”
Luke concludes. “Working with MaxCap is completely drama free. They’ve been hugely supportive and an active part of our growth.”
Click here to find out more about Valentte.