How have you benefited from being part of the Barclays network?
We've benefited in so many ways.
At the beginning, we were really welcomed into the Barclays Eagle Lab in Cardiff and as part of that, we received a huge amount of training both as founders and also our small team.
The relationship manager that we've had at Barclays has experience of both start-ups and scale-ups, so was really able to support us with quite different challenges at each stage.
A great example of that was the relationship manager at Barclays introduced us to a mentor and coach who was able to support a growing team and gave us lots of advice as the team grew to a larger number.
How has Barclays helped you with funding opportunities?
Barclays have helped us with funding opportunities by introducing us to potential investors.
They've also at tricky times where we're just about getting the funding over the line and it's taking longer than we would like, supported us with extra lines of credit just to ensure that we get the investment over the line exactly how we want it to.
How has Barclays helped you streamline your cash flow?
The most impactful way for us has been through a recommendation to an invoice factoring company that really specialise in retail scale.
So this has been a huge help as we've had really fast scale into retail and really, really critical for our cash flow.
Barclays have helped us expand internationally by finding us the right partners to scale into retail abroad.
We're just about to enter into the US in our first bricks and mortar accounts, and we've also entered into Ireland and the Netherlands and having these partners have given us a real confidence to scale in these markets.
I think if you're just starting out, it's really important to play to your strengths, where you have gaps in your knowledge and in your experience try and bring in the right partners, whether they be business mentors, the right partners like Barclays it's so critical and important that you create
Health & Her
Five ways to give your new business idea a healthy start.
Find out how we could support your business.
Kate Bache and Gervase Fay founded Health & Her in 2019. Their business provides a range of supplements and a digital tool to support women’s wellbeing during the menopause and perimenopause. Starting out as an ecommerce site, their products are now available in over 5,000 stores throughout the UK. Kate spoke to Barclays Business about five things that helped their start-up go from strength to strength.
1. Do something no one else is doing
Every woman experiences the menopause differently, so we built a unique menopause tool that allowed women to navigate their personal journey. Around 30,000 women within the first four months used the tool. We then worked with university data scientists, which gave us a huge amount of insight into the intricacies of menopause, and really helped refine our retail offering.
2. Know your market
Both Gervase and I have backgrounds in marketing and innovation. And we were used to dealing with retailers. Using all the data we had from our menopause tool we were able to develop a range of supplements that we thought would do well in the shops. Not just in the UK, either – Health & Her products are now available in the US, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany too.
3. Pick a supportive banking partner
Our previous bank had a start-up incubator but it felt like an exclusive club. So we had a look at the Barclays Eagle Labs and they were so much more welcoming and supportive. That made everything a lot easier for us. Diversity was important too. They were very keen on promoting female founders. With all the help and services they offered – and the specific advice on the healthcare sector – we quickly switched banks.
4. Cash is king
Even if things are going well, and you’ve got funding in place, you still need to keep a close eye on your cashflow. Retailers, for example, may not pay you back for 60 to 90 days. So one of the best things Barclays did for us was introduce us to a specialist invoice factoring company. This not only solved our cashflow challenges, but because this company knew our sector and could scale with us, they became an ideal partner as we grew.
5. Team culture is all-important
When you’re scaling very quickly, you’re having to hire quickly too. And it’s really hard to hang on to that great team culture that kept everyone going in the early stages. We have worked hard on maintaining a tightly-knit team where everyone has bought into the culture we want at Health & Her.