The company, which sells products for the home and garden, will use the funds from Advent and existing investor Balderton to support the next stage of its expansion strategy.

Mike Chalfen, general partner at Advent, and Balderton partner Mark Evans will join the board of WorldStores.

Chalfen says, ‘WorldStores is a great fit for our growth investment strategy and one of our focus areas – ecommerce. The business is proven, distinctive and growing fast.’

The financing follows Advent’s recent investment in fashion marketplace farfetch.com.

In a blog post by Chalfen on the Advent website, he explains that ecommerce is a ‘gigantic’ and ‘underestimated trend’. However, he warns that ‘ecommerce is a tough sector’, adding that ‘sustained execution is difficult’.

Chalfen says that for a successful investment in an ecommerce business, the company needs to ‘be more than just “moving the high street online”’, and that it needs to create a model that scales without significant capital.

WorldStores was founded by Joe Murray and Richard Tucker, and currently operates 77 specialist online stores, including BedroomWorld.co.uk, GardenFurnitureWorld.co.uk and ShedsWorld.co.uk.

Co-chief executive Murray comments, ‘This investment allows us to realise our goal of developing WorldStores into a very substantial and profitable business via our winning combination of market-beating choice, great delivery and customer service, and good value for money.’

Advent backs tech and life sciences businesses and has recently exited online video sharing site Dailymotion to Orange, and mobile payments provider Zong, which was sold to eBay.

Balderton focuses on the technology sector. Its investments include fashion retailer YOOX Group and online retailer The Hut Group.