Irish Fairy Door secures €1.5m to accelerate expansion plans
The Irish Fairy Door company has secured funding of €1.5m that is to accelerate the firm’s planned international expansion.
The fresh investment follows the Dublin company last month signing a ‘game changer’ global animation deal with Canadian firm, DHX Media that is to create animated characters from the Irish Fairy Door’s host of ‘fairy’ characters.
The firm is anticipating that sales of its flagship product, the Irish Fairy Door will be up 20% this year on 2017 and CEO, Oisín Barry said that the €1.5m funding “will accelerate success well into the future”.
The €1.5m in funding comes from the Davy EI Tax Relief Fund 2017 which is managed by BES Management DAC, the joint venture company owned by Davy and BDO which manages the Davy EII Funds.
The company’s miniature fairy doors are enjoyed by children in almost one million households worldwide and has enjoyed an endorsement in the past from Kourtney Kardashian.
Founder director of Irish Fairy Door Company, Niamh Barry said that the co-founders will retain their control of the firm.
She said: “Yes, very much so. The new investor will have the right to convert to a minority supporting position in the company at the end of the four year period.
The fresh injection of funding will also go towards the firm’s plan to digitizing its popular ‘Worry Plaque’ product.
Director of BEC Management DAC, Andrew Bourg said that the Davy EIIS Fund is "truly impressed by the growth and international expansion the team has achieved in such a short period of time and we look forward to assisting them to accelerate their international expansion plans”.
The firm currently employs 11 full-time staff and Ms Sherwin Barry said that the company intends to employ an additional five next year and a further 10 in 2020.
As a result of the animation deal, DHX Media subsidiary, WildBrain is to produce short-form content designed to engage and inspire children with the magic of The Irish Fairy Door Company’s brand, including an original animation series and live action videos that bring the fairy world to life.
Ms Barry said that the ‘live action’ part of the series will be out by February 2019 and the animation is due out July 2019.
