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Sustainable handbag company secures six-figure investment
Amschela, a PETA approved, and vegan handbag brand based in Redland, is celebrating the news of a whopping investment.
The company, founded by Keri Andriana, a former lawyer and graduate of both the University of Bristol and UWE Bristol, secured the sum as part of part of a Series A funding round.
The lead investor for the round was Bristol & Bath Regional Capital (BBRC), which is the West of England’s first home-grown place-based investor.
Keri is now one of an elite group of UK-based, black businesswomen to secure Series A capital investment.
Amschela is a PETA approved, vegan handbag brand based in Redland. Photo: Alex Mac Photos
The six-figure investment will allow Amschela to scale both its domestic and international market operations and to further provide opportunities to young people in the South West.
The brand acts as a leader of change in the social mobility market by providing real life opportunities to young people who are disadvantaged by barriers to access to the fashion industry.
Keri, who launched Amschela when she became redundant in 2016 after a 15-year legal career, said: “This is exciting news for the brand and its young dynamic team. I am extremely grateful for the overwhelming support that the brand has received from the investment team at BBRC as we now look to scale and grow the brand.
“This is the first major step to scale the brand and we are welcoming interest from co-investment investors with a strong desire to support an ethical affordable luxury brand with a strong reputation in the fashion community, a focus on social mobility, a commercial track record and high growth ambitions, to join our lead investors, therefore the round will still remain open”.
Originally starting the luxury handbag brand as a part-time venture, Keri told Bristol24/7 how her venture was just supposed to be a “Instagram shop side-hustle”.
Since then, the brand, which has been showcased at London Fashion Week for three consecutive years, has also been given a spotlight in several high-end publications including British Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair UK and British GQ.
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Labour deputy mayor Asher Craig, said she was “delighted for Keri”. She commented: “Women entrepreneurs face many obstacles when securing investment for their businesses. For black women, there are even more hurdles to climb.
“I am delighted that Keri has secured investment capital to inject into her award-winning brand Amschela, a Bristol success story – from BBRC.
“The lack of investment in businesses run by black women is shameful and if we are going to change the trajectory for this, the sector needs to build anti-racist investment practices in order to tackle systemic discrimination within the sector. The data never lies”
A 2020 report by Extend Ventures revealed that under one per cent of venture capital investment went to black entrepreneurs across the last 10 years. Between 2009 and 2019, just 0.24 per cent went to teams of black entrepreneurs – 38 businesses in total. Out of those, only one black female founder raised Series A funding across the 10-year period.
Main photo: Eljay Briss Photography
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