Fittamamma, the maternity fitness wear brand, has secured investment from The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF).
Fittamamma will receive a £150k loan made up of £131,250 from CIOSIF and £18,750 from SWIG Finance, which works with The FSE Group, the appointed CIOSIF fund manager, on delivering smaller business loans. As the business grows over the next three years, it is forecast to create five new jobs.
The Par-based business was founded in 2012 by mother and daughter team, Deborah Hazeldean and Alexandra McCabe, who spotted a gap in the market for stylish, well-designed and supportive maternity fitness wear.
McCabe said: “With plans for my own family on the horizon, I realised that pregnant women were consigned to the back of the gym, with no fitness wear that accommodated or supported the changes to their bodies – staying active was clearly more challenging wearing fitness wear which simply didn’t fit. I recognised this was a serious gap in the market and started work on my own brand and Fittamamma was born.
“This CIOSIF loan will enable us ramp-up our marketing to raise brand awareness, scale-up the business and to recruit more likeminded people to join our team.”
Mike Chapman, CIOSIF business manager at SWIG Finance, added: “It was great to meet Alexandra and Deborah and to hear about their inspirational story. The range is very well designed and these are exciting times as the team seek to create jobs in the Cornwall area for their expanding team. I am really looking forward to the next stage of their journey.”
LEP non-executive director John Acornley, who chairs the CIOSIF advisory board, said: “CIOSIF exists to help entrepreneurs like Deborah and Alexandra access the finance they need to realise their business ambitions. This latest investment adds to the growing diversity of businesses the fund is supporting across the local economy.”
CIOSIF is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. Further investment has come from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP and HM Government.
