Seed5 February 2020

OnBuy secures £3m from Fuel Ventures to fund international expansion and team growth.

The funding round was led by Fuel Ventures and will support expansion into more than 20 countries.

£3.0MSeed

OnBuy operates an online marketplace that hosts millions of products from thousands of retailers without competing against them. The Bournemouth-based firm provides a transparent platform designed to support sellers of all sizes.

OnBuy has secured £3m in seed funding led by Fuel Ventures following private investment talks earlier this month. The platform plans to allocate the capital towards international expansion into more than 20 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and the UAE, alongside doubling its workforce. Founded in 2016, the company positions itself as an alternative to dominant rivals by refusing to retail its own stock or compete directly with merchants on its platform.

Fuel Ventures led the round after reviewing the company metrics, citing its distinct market positioning and recent trajectory. The fresh capital will also support marketing initiatives, brand awareness campaigns and general platform development as the business scales internationally.

From the founder

"OnBuy is a unique platform for sellers – we are an ethical marketplace, we are transparent, and we are trustworthy."

Cas Paton

CEO at OnBuy

Investor perspective

"As a fund of entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, we have extensive experience in the eCommerce industry and only invest in companies that we feel have extraordinary potential for growth and scale, so investing in OnBuy was an obvious choice for Fuel Ventures. It’s a marketplace that values the seller just as much as the customer, which gives it a real USP as that has been historically overlooked by competitors."