One Small Step for YFM

The Capital Fund – YFM Venture Finance’s £50 million London-focused venture capital vehicle – has invested £250,000 in children’s footwear retailer One Small Step One Giant Leap, as part of a £1 million total funding package.

Set up in 2002 by managing director Nick Schwefel, One Small Step’s shops are designed with parents’ needs in mind and have received excellent customer feedback so far.

Schwefel, who had spent the previous 20 years working for Monsoon and Accessorize, developed the concept in response to his own unhappy experiences buying shoes for his children. The new cash, he suggests, will allow the company – which caters for all children from babies to teenagers – to expand its portfolio of stores. At present One Small Step operates one outlet in Bath and four in London. However, ‘this round of investment will allow us to expand further within the M25 and beyond’, says Schwefel.

The Capital Fund is investing £250,000 in the venture, with the remaining £750,000 being provided by various business angels. Spokesperson Helen Reynolds explains that the attractive stores, product range and trade experience of One Small Step’s management all persuaded the fund to back the company.

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Sara Williams

Dedric Spinka

Sara Williams was executive chairman of AIM-listed Vitesse Media (the original publisher of GrowthBusiness.co.uk), the company she started in 1997. A former investment analyst with Kleinwortt Benson, Sara...

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