Away, the US-based luggage brand that counts mass media group Comcast as an investor, has raised up to $40m in convertible note financing from existing backers, Axios has reported.
The company secured between $30m and $40m in bridge funding through the round, with investment management firms Baillie Gifford and Wellington Management identified as participants. It took the cash at a lower ‘cap’ than the $1.45bn valuation achieved in its last round.
Founded in 2015, Away produces a range of smart luggage items it sells directly through its website as well as a dozen stores across the US, UK and Canada, and through a partnership with department store Nordstrom.
Away said in a blog post in April this year that sales of its products had fallen some 90% in the previous weeks as international travel was drastically cut, forcing it to reduce staff by 10% while furloughing many of its remaining employees.
Wellington Management led the company’s previous round, a $100m series D in May 2019 that also featured Baillie Gifford, Lone Pine Capital and Global Founders Capital (GFC).
Comcast’s corporate venturing vehicle, Comcast Ventures, had joined GFC and Forerunner Ventures to supply $50m in series C funding for Away in mid-2018, the three having taken part in a $20m series B round the year before alongside Accel.
GFC had led an $8.5m series A round for the company in 2016 that included Comcast Ventures, Barry Sternlicht and existing investors Forerunner Ventures and Accel to increase its overall funding to $11m.
Photo courtesy of Away Travel.
