Antrim Luxury Gifting Brand The Present Tree Raises £1.8m in First Equity Round

The Present Tree, the County Antrim luxury gifting brand founded by Catherine Cunningham in 2013, has closed its first equity funding round at £1.8 million, with the capital earmarked for a new headquarters, targeted senior hires, and expansion across Europe.

The raise comes at a moment of genuine operational pressure. The business recently doubled its growth to a multi-million pound turnover and has exceeded its current capacity of 10,000 orders per week, making the infrastructure investment less a strategic luxury than a practical necessity. The funding will go toward strengthening operational infrastructure and building the capacity to meet rising demand without compromising the product quality and sustainability standards the brand has built its reputation on.

Strategically, the capital positions The Present Tree to anchor itself as what the company describes as a dominant player in the luxury garden gifting market, scaling across the UK and Ireland while establishing a broader European footprint. A new headquarters forms a central part of those plans, alongside the senior hires needed to support that scale.

The Investment Fund for Northern Ireland supported the round, with backing endorsed by Mark Sterritt, senior director of Nations and Regions Investment Funds at the British Business Bank. "It's good to see the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland support The Present Tree at such a pivotal stage of its growth," Sterritt said. "It has built a reputation for sustainability, integrity, and exceptional customer satisfaction. Helping businesses like The Present Tree take the next step on their growth journey is exactly why the Fund was launched."

An investor statement accompanying the round described the raise as "a step change, providing the capacity to scale the business while maintaining the quality and values that underpins their offering," adding that backers "see a clear pathway for the business to become a category-defining sustainable luxury gifting brand."

For a brand that has spent over a decade building credibility in a gifting category where provenance and intentionality matter as much as the product itself, the first equity round signals that The Present Tree's growth is no longer constrained by ambition, but by the infrastructure required to match it.