Bazalgette lured by Llustre

An all woman team has won the backing of business big wigs including the man behind Big Brother - Sir Peter Bazalgette - to launch a homewares and furniture pop up online shop.

Former venture capitalist Tracy Dorée and former Playfish online gaming guru Vivienne Bearman joined forces last year and will launch Llustre.com after raising £750,000 from a group of angel investors including Sir Bazalgette.

The duo hope to take a slice of the £130bn European homeware and furniture market.

“Clothing retailers have really invested online and created websites that really sell the products. But there isn’t anything like this in homeware. The online homeware market is dominated by retailers with shops like John Lewis, Next and Ikea who rely on their stores to actually ‘sell’ the products.”

Aimed at an upmarket fashion conscious audience, Llustre.com will source products from across the globe and will launch 5 day ‘flash’ sales – constantly changing products.

The pair are the latest start-up online retailer to raise cash. Farfetch.com has just raised $18 million in a second funding round from Index Ventures, BV Capital and existing investor Advent Venture Partners. Farfetch.com - an ecommerce portal for independent fashion boutiques – was created by José Neves, founder of Mayfair boutique B Store.

PA