23/06/2010

Baronsmead is Getting Personal with £4 million investment in online retailer

Funds from the Baronsmead VCTs, have been used to complete a £4 million investment in GettingPersonal.co.uk Limited ("GettingPersonal.co.uk"), a leading online retailer which sells personalised and unique gifts.

The South Manchester based business was established in November 2005 by John Smith and Giles Harridge with just one product, a personalised calendar. GettingPersonal.co.uk now sells over 4,000 items ranging from personalised cards, notebooks, mugs and chocolate to non-personalised items for general gifting.

GettingPersonal.co.uk sells direct to consumers through its website and in 2009 had six million visitors and recorded sales of £9.6 million.

ISIS Equity Partners, the fund manager for Baronsmead, will support management to establish GettingPersonal.co.uk as the leading personalised online gifting retailer in a fast growing UK market. In doing this the Company's focus will continue to be offering customers innovative gift ideas across a huge range of categories.

GettingPersonal.co.uk has developed a cult following online and the unique nature of the business has attracted significant media interest with the company featuring eight times on ITV1's This Morning. The Company was ranked 12th in the 2009 Sunday Times Virgin FastTrack 100, a league table which identifies the fastest growing private UK businesses.

Commenting on the deal, co-founder and joint managing director, John Smith said: "The business has grown rapidly over the past five years and we still believe there is further scope for expansion in both product portfolio and our marketing capability. ISIS clearly has a firm understanding of the online retail space and we are very excited about working with them as GettingPersonal.co.uk enters the next phase of its development."