Red Ventures supplies jewellery, photo frames and money banks featuring the ever-popular Disney characters Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White as well as Beatrix Potter favourites Jemima Puddleduck, Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. Clients include H Samuel, Ernest Jones, Argos and Tesco and the target market is a mix of children and nostalgic grown-ups.

‘Our ambition is to become the leading supplier of licensed giftware and jewellery to retailers and the investment from The Capital Fund has let us take the first step in that process,’ said managing director Simon Bingham. ‘They considered our funding requirements, which would fall below the radar screens of many venture capitalists, and provided vital capital so that we can create new product lines and add new brand licences to our portfolio.’

Michael Kennedy, investment manager of The Capital Fund professed himself ‘delighted’ with the deal and claimed he would ‘follow the company’s progress with interest’. The support of Red Ventures follows on from the backing of children’s shoe retailer One Small Step One Giant Leap last month.