Endy Secures $1 Million to Grow Bed-In-A-Box Business
Toronto-headquartered Endy has secured a $1 million investment from entrepreneurs Michele Romanow, Joe Mimran and Arlene Dickinson in exchange for a 7.5 per cent stake in the business.
The deal was mediated on CBC’s Dragons’ Den in an episode aired last night and filmed back in April. This is the first time Endy has externally financed its online mattress company.
CEO Mike Gettis and Aashish Nathwani, Endy’s marketing director, pitched the online company’s Canadian-made foam mattress to the panel of successful entrepreneurs, explaining the sleep industry in Canada is a $1 billion space that’s ready for disruption.
This year, Endy is projected to hit $20 million in sales, double what the e-commerce company pulled in last year. With the growth track in mind, Gettis has valued Endy as a $20-million company, a number that several of the Dragons’ criticized for being too high.
“Because we are an online, e-commerce growth startup, we are taking a lot of our retained earnings and putting it back into marketing so we can continue to grow,” said Gettis in response.
The online direct-to-consumer business peaked the interest of three of the six investors. Dickinson commented that it’s hard to build a brand in Canada to a $20-million size.
“I think we could build this to be a $100-million business,” said Mimran.
Since its 2015 launch, Endy has sold 25,000 mattresses across Canada.
