Soho House secures £77.7m equity investment to fund new openings and digital growth

Soho House has secured a $100m (£77.7m) equity investment to fund new openings and digital growth.

The investment, led by Raycliff Capital with an additional significant stake from Simon Property Group, puts a $2b (£1.6b) valuation on the business.

The openings are expected to be focused on international growth following recent expansion in Mykonos, Hong Kong and a third LA club. In 2020 and 2021 the group plans further growth in Paris, Austin, Mykonos, Rome, London, Tel Aviv, Nashville and Brighton.

Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Soho House, said: "The next stage of our growth is the recent opening of Soho House Hong Kong, an important step towards our ambition of being a truly global members network. At the same time, the launch of Soho Warehouse in Downtown Los Angeles demonstrates that the demand in mature cities is still huge.

“We have also continued to grow our Cities without Houses membership and now have 38 cities signed up serving 4,500 members (as of October 2019) who live in a city without a House but still want to be part of the Soho House community. This is a key area of growth for the business, opening up Soho House to a wider membership and moving from a purely physical experience to an increasingly digital one.

“We are also delighted to announce a new equity investment in the business today, welcoming further investors who recognise Soho House’s undoubted growth potential and will support our future ambitions, through both physical and digital channels.”

The group also announced its financial results for the year to 30 December 2018 reporting a turnover increase of 20% to £432.5m, driven by membership subscription income and food and beverage sales. Like-for-like revenue was up 9% and the group has more than 89,000 paying members, with retention rates of 95%.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of £56.4m, up from £50.5m in 2017.

In the UK the group reported that growth had been driven by the introduction of new memberships and membership price increases; although EBITDA growth was held back by new sites, which are yet to reach maturity.