Member Article

Further investment for ethical venture

An online shopping company tipped to become the ‘ethical Amazon’ is expanding its business with a new funding round worth £800,000. For the second time in nine months, the NorthStar Equity Investors (NSEI) Co-Investment Fund has backed the work of PointOV – an internet business based in the Ouseburn, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This latest round of funding sees £500,000 coming from the NSEI Co-Investment Fund, with a further £300,000 from business angels.

Through its website – www.ethicalsuperstore.com – the firm sells a range of eco-friendly and fair trade products from around the world. These include a selection of familiar fair trade staples such as tea, coffee and chocolate as well as gifts, fashion, books and eco-gadgets such as solar powered iPod chargers, eco-kettles, lights and solar panels.

Vic Morgan, PointOV director, said: “We now offer 1,500 products for sale and you can find more fairly traded products at Ethical Superstore than in Tesco nationwide. “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.

Marion Bernard of NSEI said: “PointOV has an ambitious entrepreneurial management team and they really know their market. I’m confident that they will use this latest investment to build on their success. They are a great example of how venture capital coupled with expert guidance can help a smart idea become a booming business.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .