Why Percival is foregoing VC money in favor of crowdfunding

In 2018, founder and CEO Chris Gove started his menswear brand, Percival, the way many new founders do: with venture capital funding. Raising two rounds, in 2018 and 2021, totaling nearly $4 million, the British brand got off the ground, started selling DTC and garnered several high-profile fans including Ryan Reynolds and Tom Holland. It reached profitability and grew its revenue from $11 million in 2022 to $15 million in 2023.

But now, as the brand plans to go global, with a particular focus on expanding in the U.S., Gove doesn’t want to go back to VCs to raise cash. Instead, he’s asking Percival’s customers to help invest in the brand’s future. As part of a crowdfunding campaign that went live on Thursday morning, Percival customers can invest cash into the brand through a campaign on the crowdfunding website Crowdcube. As a result, they’ll receive perks, some of which will last for a lifetime.

Among motivators for the move, Gove cited bad experiences with some of the investors he’s recently spoken with. For example, some balked at the DTC model, even though it “makes perfect sense” for the brand, Gove said. He also pointed to Percival’s reputation for transparency. Percival has a WhatsApp group chat for a few dozen of its most loyal customers, where they can speak directly to Gove who solicits feedback from them on everything from product design to marketing campaigns to the possibility of doing this crowdfunding project.

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