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Common Objective raises investment and profile with crowdfunding campaign

Lauretta Roberts
05 March 2020

Common Objective, the global B2B sourcing and information platform which promotes sustainability in fashion, is more than 70% towards its £500,000 crowdfunding target.

The London-based business founded by sustainability pioneer and entrepreneur Tamsin Lejeune had raised 71% of its target on Crowdcube at the time of writing, having already secured £315,000 from six existing backers.

Common Objective's platform, which boasts 26,000 members, rewards sustainable businesses with higher search rankings and at the end of last year it launched a new consultancy arm, CO Consults, to help businesses reconcile sustainable strategies with business strategies.

It plans to use the additional funds raised to invest in its technology, expand the team and reach of the business globally, and further the company’s mission to "make sustainable fashion business as usual".

Lejeune told TheIndustry.fashion that there had lately been "a groundswell of interest" in the platform, which she unveiled in 2018. "People got in touch and said 'we want to help you to take this to the next level'," she said.

She said she opted to raise funds through crowdfunding as it played into the platform's values. "Common Objective has always been about our community," she said. "[Crowdfunding] seemed like such a good fit. We want our members to be shareholders and co-creators to help us further our mission."

"It's proven that [crowdfunding] drives success as customers are more loyal. Financing is only a part of it, the main reason we are doing it is marketing and profile," Lejeune explained.

She said the company was looking to ramp up the capability of its platform which uses personalisation and matching technology to connect buyers and suppliers, and provide them with targeted content and tools supporting best practice. Its 26,000 members span more than 150 countries and the site is used by individuals and teams who work at world-leading brands as well as thousands of SMEs.

Common Objective was born from her original platform, the Ethical Fashion Forum and has the support of industry figureheads and leading brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Amber Valetta and The Kering group among many others. It has raised more than £1.1m in funding to date from existing backers who include retail veteran Harold Tillman and designer Roland Mouret.

Its crowdfunding campaign runs for 27 more days at Crowdcube.

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