Australian sustainable brand ettitude has closed AUD $2.54 million (USD $1.6M) seed round in the United States, showing increasing global demand for its bamboo textile offering.
After a record 2019, which saw global revenue increase three times from the year prior, ettitude has recently finished a new raise in the United States.
The brand moved headquarters from Melbourne to Los Angeles in 2018.
The raise will go towards product category expansion, building further upon ettitude’s signature and proprietary CleanBamboo textile range, made from 100% organic bamboo.
The financing round was led by Drumbeat Ventures, a US-based fund investing in breakout brands with a strong sense of purpose.
Drumbeat is joined by TA Ventures, a European female-founded fund focusing on technology innovation.
Drumbeat founder Adam Burgoon said his interest stems from ettitude’s unique combination of leadership and purpose-driven brand proposition.
"They are perfectly positioned to bring their mission of sustainability and comfort to a broader audience,” Burgoon said.
The brand was started by Chinese Australian Phoebe Yu, alongside president Kay Dey.
Yu founded the company in 2014, after after years of working in textile and homewares sourcing and logistics and seeing first-hand how unsustainable the industry was.
The brand has a direct-to-consumer model that allows savings to be passed on to the customer, while ensuring minimal environmental impact through its production and operation.
ettitude’ s technology recycles and reuses water up to 200 times, recycling 98% of water in the process.
“There is a growing desire among customers to really live their values. With ettitude, we definitely live and breathe the understanding that we all want to live better, more comfortable lives while protecting and caring for the planet,” Yu said.
“The investment allows us to drive new innovative ways we can all more easily adopt an eco-attitude—where comfort and quality is not compromised by a commitment to conscious living,” Dey said.
While many companies offer bamboo bedding using toxic rayon or viscose technology, ettitude spent years refining and testing its signature textile to create an evolved and improved new generation bamboo fabric.
This revolutionary bamboo lyocell fabric is produced with a closed loop system.
“Since we began, the number one thing our customers have responded to is the quality and touch-feel of our signature textile. It’s got the softness of silk but is easier to care for and cruelty-free, not to mention being a far more sustainable option than other bedding textiles on the market,” Yu said.