People’s Champion finalist 2017: Trouva

Start-up name: Trouva
Founder: Alex Loizou, Mandeep Singh & Glen Walker
Started in: 2013 (launched in 2015)
Based in: London
Business description: Online marketplace for independent shops and boutiques

Shortlisted categories:

Venture Funded Business of the Year, Retail Business of the Year

The Trouva story:

While large retailers have been well-equipped to cope with the mass migration of shoppers from the high street to the web, without the necessary resources, smaller outfits are in peril of being left behind by the digital world.

Trouva (formerly Streethub) is the offline to online platform for independent retail that gives brick and mortar stores the ability to sell online effectively and create quality customer experiences. It features products from thousands of unique boutiques across the UK handpicked by its team, including unique homeware, fashion and lifestyle items.

Trouva’s technology enables these shops to “not only survive, but thrive”, providing them with the tools for everything from live inventory to logistics, including click & collect, one-hour delivery across London – it claims its quickest was 25 minutes – and worldwide shipping.

Since last year’s Startups Awards nomination, Trouva has been named alongside the likes of Deliveroo and last year’s winner of Sage Startups Business of the Year Onfido as one of the five fastest growing tech businesses in the UK. Today, it features over 68,000 products from more than 300 independent boutiques and claims to be driving revenue upwards of £100,000 a year for top performing shops.

Trouva has big ambitions: 2018 will see the platform launch in its first European city as it aims to become “the destination for the best independent shops […] in the world’s best cities such as Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and beyond”.

Why Trouva made our shortlist:

Whilst Trouva’s tremendous growth over the last few years is to be celebrated in itself, this growth is helping to champion and directly improve the fortunes of independent retailers across the UK – businesses that constitute the lifeblood of our high streets and are vital to the economy at large. With worldwide ambitions and a treasure trove of undiscovered independent boutiques in need of the Trouva treatment, we can’t wait to see what the company does next.

Where to find out more about Trouva:

Website: www.trouva.com
Twitter: @wearetrouva