Young Start-Up of the Year 2012

Founders: Ning Li, Julien Callede, & Chloe Macintosh
Year Started: 2010
Website:www.made.com

Made.com is an online furniture retailer that offers new and established designers an easy route to market as well as giving customers the ability to purchase top-quality furniture without the high street mark-up. The brainchild of 30 year old serial entrepreneur Ning Li, who co-founded the business with Chloe Macintosh and Julien Callede, the start-up is unique because unlike other furniture retailers, it exists purely in an online capacity. By sourcing materials straight from the best, and where possible local, manufacturers (in terms of quality and price), Made.com is able to offer its customers designer quality furniture for up to 70% off typical high street prices.

In just two years the team has grown from three people to 80, and site activity in 2012 has seen a 100% growth on 2011.

Due to their success, Made.com is now expanding their offering further, opening the Made.com showroom, where customers can view their favourite products first hand, before committing to ordering online. They’ve also launched their design council, which has attracted a range of globally recognised names from the design world.

Judges’ comments:

The judges were very impressed by what the youthful founding team have achieved since launch in 2010. The pure online furniture retailer has grown fast against a backdrop in which the likes of Habitat have gone bust. By aggregating demand from customers to get high quality furniture made at 70% of high street prices, the company has been able to hit and exceed impressive financial targets in a short time. It has also become a respected platform for emerging designers and new products in addition to collaborations with household names.