Durham-Based Spoonflower Lands $25M Investment To Transform Textile Industry

Durham, NC /PRNewswire/ - Spoonflower (www.spoonflower.com), the world leader in on-demand digital printing of custom fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap, today announced a $25 million minority investment led by North Bridge Growth Equity, a leading growth equity firm based in Boston, with participation by Durham-based Bull City Venture Partners.

The company plans to use the infusion of capital to increase the pace of innovation and introduction of new product offerings, and to fuel international expansion.

According to InfoTrends, the digitally printed textile market is estimated to be more than $12 billion on a worldwide basis, which represents 1% penetration of the overall textile market. Tailwinds from the shift from mass production to mass customization is projected to drive over 35% annual growth in digitally printed textiles through 2018. "Digital textile printing is finally coming of age," says Gart Davis, one of Spoonflower's co-founders. "The time is right to invest in growth and to bring on a partner like North Bridge, who shares our optimism about the opportunities to transform an industry through on-demand manufacturing."

Spoonflower, a popular custom fabric-shopping site for crafters and design enthusiasts, was launched in 2008 by two self-described Internet geeks whose spouses were frustrated by the limited selection of commercially available fabric prints. The company's manufacturing facility in North Carolina began modestly, in a one-room former sock mill, with sparse financial resources, unreliable equipment and a looming recession.

By selling custom-printed fabric and offering a marketplace for hundreds of thousands of unique designs created by independent artists, Spoonflower tapped into a swelling DIY movement and a resurgent interest in sewing. Spoonflower now offers the largest digital library of surface designs, globally. The company today employs 150 people in Durham ls of the North Bridge investment, the company is planning to open an office in Berlin, Germany.

Partner Russ Pyle and Principal Holly Maloney from North Bridge Growth Equity will join Spoonflower's Board of Directors as part of the investment. David Jones of Bull City Venture Partners will join the board as an observer.

"We are excited to partner with the team at Spoonflower and be their first institutional investor. Our investment will support continued rapid growth as they address related opportunities in the textile market, such as home goods and apparel," explains Pyle.

"We love Spoonflower's passionate and engaged relationship with its loyal customer community, which is unique," adds Maloney. "The Company's proprietary technology, process know-how and organic branding have positioned Spoonflower as a market leader with numerous options to execute against in this next phase of growth." This is the first North Carolina investment by North Bridge Growth Equity, which manages $3.8 billion in capital.

Spoonflower and North Bridge first connected in fall of 2014 at the Tech Venture Conference, an annual event in Raleigh sponsored by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED). Over the past year, the relationship grew as North Bridge continued to build out their thesis in the on-demand manufacturing and eCommerce sector.

About Spoonflower: As the world's first Internet-based service for creating custom fabric, Spoonflower has been featured on thousands of DIY blogs and in publications as diverse as Martha Stewart Living, BUST Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Making things with Spoonflower is also the subject of new title from Abrams/STC Craft titled "The Spoonflower Handbook: A DIY Guide to Designing Fabric, Wallpaper & Gift Wrap with 30+ Projects." The Triangle Business Journal recently named Spoonflower one of the Best Places to Work, and the company showed up at #1009 on Inc. Magazine's list of the 5000 fastest growing companies in the US.

About North Bridge: North Bridge Growth Equity, and its affiliate North Bridge Venture Partners, actively partner with founders and entrepreneurs of market leading companies, who are using technology to disrupt and reinvent large, dynamic markets. With $3.8 billion of capital under management, the firm has funded more than 170 companies creating many billions in market value. Among those firms are Acquia, Actifio, Dyn, Demandware, Proto Labs, Starent Networks, Seniorlink, Smart Pak, Valence Health, and WP Engine. The firm is based in Waltham, MA. To learn more about North Bridge go to www.northbridge.com.

About Bull City Venture Partners: Based in Durham, N.C., Bull City Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on partnering with the best technology entrepreneurs to create market-leading companies. Learn more at www.bcvp.com.