80. DAPV (t/a Fancy Dress Worldwide)

Founder: Dominic Portman
Founded: 2016
Website: fancydressworldwide.com

Having already been named 2018’s Startups Exporter of the Year, as well as earning a place in the Startups 100 2019 Index, DAPV – or Fancy Dress Worldwide, to its customers – continues to highlight how traditionally small-scale business models can be bolstered to achieve global success.

Founded in 2016 by Dominic Portman, who started out selling dress-up outfits to his friends while studying at Nottingham Trent University, Fancy Dress Worldwide has gone on to amass £1.85m in annual sales, catering for over 150,000 customers in the process. The company operates by selling manufacturers’ unique, innovative products online under DAPV brands, then fulfilling orders within their warehouses.

Powered by Eiger, the company’s own bespoke and sector-agnostic technology platform, DAPV has set itself a 3-year revenue target of £16m. Eiger will allow DAPV to transmit data quickly between suppliers, the company, and the customer – and is capable of working with products far beyond the realm of caveman costumes and inflatable palm trees.

Thanks to this technical agility, DAPV is free to pursue its vision: to continue investing in growing its product lines and sales channels. The company has already proven its prowess with the launch of its second brand, Games Galore, which is now responsible for over 60% of DAPV’s revenue – despite having been launched in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

From garish wigs to global ambitions, it seems like for DAPV, the party is just getting started.