Bluebella is a British lingerie company founded in 2005 by Emily Bendell, with operations in the UK, US, Australia, France and Italy. It is headquartered in London, England. Early investors included James Averdieck, founder of Gü, the investor network Incito Ventures and the South East Seed Fund. Bluebella was the first company to get funds from the London-based female investor club Addidi Business Angels. The business experienced rapid growth – doubling turnover every 12 months from 2007 to 2010. History Company founder Emily Bendell studied philosophy, politics and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, and worked as a journalist on a legal journal for a few years, before founding Bluebella in 2005. Bendell road-tested her idea for six months, doing parties for friends and family members. She told Jazz FM's Elliot Moss: "It was just me in my bedroom initially. I'd go out and do the orders, then I’d do all the packing and, if someone called, I'd answer the phones too." In an interview with the fashion industry trade magazine Drapers, Bendell explained how she overcame sexism to secure investment from well-connected female investors. "There is an issue in this country, particularly with female-focused businesses, because the investment community is very male dominated. Before crowd-funding, we had previously been through some angel investor rounds. The business angel community is 95% male and typically invest in businesses they understand and have experience of. After one early round of funding, I was quite disillusioned and just put on an event myself, cold-calling high-net worth women asking them to come along." By 2008, Bluebella had 100 agents operating across the UK. Online retailer Lovehoney invested a six-figure sum in 2010. Other online retailers, including ASOS and Figleaves, began stocking Bluebella's lingerie range. In February 2014, the department store Selfridges announced that it would be stocking Bluebella lingerie. For 2014, sales tripled to £3.7 million, with a profit of £347,000 against a £430,300 loss the previous year, boosted by Tesco selling their Fifty Shades range. The company raised over £1m in a crowd-fund in December 2016 to expand into the US. By summer 2018 they were stocked in Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom department stores and online retailers Revolve and ShopBop. They had media coverage, with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and singer Nicki Minaj wearing their lingerie in photo shoots. In 2016, Bluebella worked with three GB Olympic athletes on a body confidence campaign, #BeStrongBeBeautiful, to get