They Raised Millions From Big Shift Investors: ‘I Didn’t Really Need To Bring The Money’

“It is so wonderful that a lot of good investors believe in us. It feels so amazing.”

she is happy Maria Siraki, Founder and CEO of Swedish MWH who answers the phone.

It’s now been two weeks since she and her team won 1 million crowns from a number of big investors in the transformation final. The company makes work clothes – i.e., suits and the like – which must be as comfortable as soft training clothes sourced from capital. Jens Nelson, Pernilla NirnstenAnd the Zaynab Dugard And the Noel forever.

But the all-new stock issuance is much larger than what Sweden’s MWH received from the aforementioned investors. The company began a capital hunt during the fall and when they applied for Shift this spring, they had already reached 2 million crowns.

Now that they’ve closed the tour, the additional territory is around 7 million SEK, of which 1 million is SEK.

Do you really need to join Shift, considering the capital you’ve received from elsewhere?

“When we applied for Shift, we received about 2 million crowns, and we have struggled to attract investors since last fall. After we applied to Shift and went in sub-competitions, we were also able to tell when we introduced ourselves elsewhere. He assured us that we were on the right path, so many dared to invest in us,” says Maria Siraki.

She completes:

“So no, we didn’t really have to get the money from Shift, but the competition gave us more than that. It’s not just about the capital, it’s about the network we have, which is a huge strength. Plus in the meantime we’ve learned a lot about how to promote.” So it was invaluable.”

She says acquiring Pernilla Nyrensten, founder and CEO of Revolutionrace, was one of the goals.

“She is a great role model. She is the strongest in the trade and she is also a woman. She did what we wanted to do. So having a ball with her is really a benefit.”

In addition to the above-mentioned investors, among others Karl Axel Sortivalfounder of Casall and Billy Gustafsonfounder of Outnorth intervened.

“We go from eight co-owners to nearly 30 co-owners,” says Maria Siraki. “It really is a dream team with so many different skills.”

The money that will soon fall into the account will be allocated to building an apparel inventory, marketing and eventually international expansion.

The founders give a presentation to Shift investors during the Grand Final.

What are the biggest challenges you face now?

“We as a team have to stick to each other properly. We will have to work a lot with that as we grow. And to grow in balance, it does not mean running on all the balls, but to find the best strategy and prioritize correctly. Then it is important to have clothes in The team, that’s probably the most important thing.”

How do you see the competitive situation?

“There are always competitors. We sell fashion and there are many others doing the same thing. But what we do is very different. However, there is one competitor that sells almost the same type of clothing that we do, which is in the UK. That company has doubled its sales during the pandemic. But we want to be more sustainable and to have a closer dialogue with customers”, says Maria Siraki and continues:

“Our goal by 2024 is to recycle all the fabrics we use in manufacturing. And clothes need to be used often and for a long time, so they don’t get replaced too often.”

How far have you come if you look forward one year in time?

“So we are not only in Sweden, but also in Denmark and Finland. The idea is to deliver a total of 10 million next year, but only until June next year, we may have already delivered more than 7 million of that,” says Maria Siraki, We might as well be someone else on the team.”

The company had sales of just under 960,000 SEK in 2021 and a profit of 8,800 SEK. When the issue of new shares is completed, Maria Seraki will continue to be the majority owner with 43 percent, Pelle Gustafsson will own 10.7 percent and Maria Ottoson 5.4 percent.