Eve Sleep seeks £15m investment to fund new CEO’s strategy

Sturrock, who was appointed as chief executive of the online retailer in September, has conducted a business review and identified range, brand and customer experience as the three key pillars for the business’ new strategy.

The retailer will appoint a new chief marketing officer by the end of the year who will focus on building brand awareness through partnerships and online marketing, as well as increasing repeat orders.

Eve Sleep plans to double its range of non-mattress products next year and improve its website’s checkout process and delivery options.

The mattress etailer plans to launch the £15m funding round to deliver these strategic shifts before the end of the year.

The online retailer said it has “already received material levels of support for the planned fundraise from certain existing shareholders at a price that is significantly higher than the prevailing share price”.

Eve Sleep said it expects to deliver revenue growth in line with or above full-year expectations in its current financial year, driven by its partnership with Dreams.

However, it expects its planned strategic changes to dent sales in 2019, which it says will be below current expectations.

Sturrock said: “The business review has reaffirmed my initial confidence in the size of the opportunity in the sleep market and Eve’s ability to realise it. It will, however, require further investment than originally expected.

“Our planned strategic investments will drive growth through expanding and developing our highly complementary product range and enhancing the overall customer experience and proposition, which will all serve to further strengthen our differentiated brand positioning.

“While we have revised our short-term growth ambitions during this period of consolidation and investment, we anticipate a marked improvement moving into 2020 and beyond.”