Tylko is a data-driven direct-to-consumer e-commerce company that uses proprietary augmented reality technology to deliver made-to-measure furniture. It is a challenger to the traditional wooden furniture market, worth over €300bn, with the potential to lead its category. Tylko's furniture is sold across Europe, with its largest markets in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and the UK. The company was founded by a mixed team of four founders holding equal shares, one of them female.

A 2 MILLION BET, 97 times revenue growth

Experior, a Polish early stage VC fund, led a €2m investment round in Tylko in December 2016. In that year the company shipped 1,080 orders and its trailing-twelve-month GMV stood at €850k. Tylko went on to raise capital across several further rounds, including from TDJ Pitango, EVLI, Pitango, the Amaral Family Office, and convertible debt from private individuals, as well as €7m in venture debt from the European Investment Bank and Experior VC continued to support Tylko directly and via SPVs.

Since Experior VC invested in 2016, Tylko has grown 97 times over and reached positive EBITDA, thanks to its unique parametic design tech platform and its cash cycle, while the wider consumer goods market was volatile including post-covid. The products are manufactured in Poland, third largest market in furniture production globally, and sold across Western Europe, strengthening its moat day by day.

WHAT THIS SHOWS

Small cheques build real companies. €2m went into a business with €850K of revenue. That business has since grown 97 times over and turned profitable.

Experior VC has held Tylko for close to ten years. That is the real shape of venture ownership, and it matches the liability profile of a pension fund better than almost any other investor in the market.

Public and private capital did different jobs. Private venture took the risk in 2016, when there was €850K of revenue and a thesis. The European Investment Bank arrived in 2023 with its venture debt facility.

Reaching positive EBITDA, coupled with a full fledged sustainability programme in a material intensive product shows real long-term strength meeting both financial and ESG goals.