Lupe Technology Limited

Idea

Introduction

Lupe’s mission is to Engineer a Cleaner World….by designing better products that are unfashionably long lasting, and that can be kept up to date.

Our first, is a cordless vacuum cleaner that beats the market leaders, and sets the template for responsible product design.

Why a vacuum cleaner? Nearly every home has one, and there has been a recent "paradigm shift" towards cordless vacuuming. But there have been many voiced frustrations amongst consumers regarding product performance, battery life and longevity.

The Lupe Pure Cordless vacuum cleaner has been gaining market sales traction because we believe it addresses these issues due to our patented technology….and our design philosophy.

See what this performance means in a real-world, head-to-head test of endurance (video link available on request):

The Pure Cordless is the first of many products from our new brand that we see as becoming known for hygiene and longevity.

We are now gaining sales traction and scaling the company.

Substantial accomplishments to date

2015:

The company was founded by Pablo Montero-Cowell and Lucas Horne, with the vision to solve the frustrations they saw consumers were having with cordless vacuum cleaners.

As experienced engineers in the field of vacuum cleaners they knew what they were doing, but also how to make something better and different. Over 5 years, our team developed the patented Suction Intensifier technology to pick up dust more efficiently, and the unique Lupe Pure Cordless platform to carry it. It wasnt easy!

2017:

We completed a Seed Round of funding in 2017, taking on board an Early Stage VC, and winning a further InnovateUK Grant.

2018:

Our cornerstone patent was granted and a second round of fundraising was completed. We also engaged with our chosen mass production manufacturing partner.

2019:

We completed the biggest ever crowdfunded vacuum cleaner campaign.

We also secured a soft loan from InnovateUK.

Recruited Commercial Director, Hamish Barclay, and employed Head of Marketing Yasmin Ross.

2020:

Raised a third investment round with the support of Seedrs Investors.

Ordered first mass production run.

Hired E-Commerce Manager- Gaelle Colas.

Fulfilled Kickstarter orders, started selling to new customers.

Ordered second mass production run.

National Press and Influencer Coverage.

Forbes calls the Pure Cordless “The Rolls Royce of vacuum cleaners”

November 2020 lupe sell over £100,000 and achieves positive EBIT in that month.

Ordered third mass production run.

Monetisation strategy

Our business model is very simple: we will make better consumer products and aim to sell at strong margin. We intend to re-invest profits into growing market share in the floorcare sector, as well as developing products in new verticals.

With the Pandemic impacting offline channels, all our sales are D2C. We achieved over £250,000 turnover in Q4 2020, with av. GP over 50%.

We are in infancy of promotions and sales, and still optimising and scaling.

Lupe is agile, and able to flex for opportunity. One example is demand in the US- as much as 47% in a given month. This was not expected, but with our supply chain we have been able to service the demand well.

Given C19-related uncertainties remaining in the offline channels, D2C will remain the focus of sales, with relationship-building for offline channels.

We believe the cordless floorcare market has huge potential, so sales Pure Cordless are the focus. But we will also be developing our next product to grow the brand.

Use of proceeds

The business has secured over £2.8m of funding to date, between director loans, government grants and soft loans, equity investors and pre-order sales. (This figure does not include commercial trade revenues.)

These proceeds are essentially for working capital- stock, marketing and overheads. Lupe must continue to order stock to supply the anticipated demand. We do make use of credit facilities where possible, but our limited trading history does limit how much we can do.

There are a number of creditors to the business but no investment funds will be used to service these facilities.