Rob Law, Founder and CEO of Trunki, maker of the much-loved children’s ride-on suitcase, wanted to drive his company forward. With his sights set on international expansion, he asked us to help him make it happen.
Trunki had become a household name, the lovable must have ride on suitcase was a favourite of families and celebrities across the UK and beyond. Rob had received seed funding from the Princes Trust and an investor with more foresight than the famed BBC Dragons. Famously, Rob failed to raise money in the Dragons’ Den when he appeared in 2006 and the Trunki fell foul of Theo Paphitis’ heavy hand. However, Rob turned this to his advantage using the press wisely to promote the Trunki as the “one that got away”.
Since then Trunki has gone from strength to strength. Two years after his 2006 disaster in the den, Trunki Ride-Ons were selling at the rate of one every 3.5 minutes. In 2011 Rob was awarded an MBE, and Trunki won SME of the Year at the National Business Awards in 2012. By 2012 4 year sales CAGR was 56%.
Having achieved success in the UK and with trade emerging in over 97 countries Rob, wanted to provide additional capital to drive the international sale opportunity which at that point represented only one third of sales. In 2013 we helped Rob achieve this objective and raised £3.92 million from the Business Growth Fund.
