A sustainable handbag brand founded by a former Bristol lawyer is to expand and take on more staff after receiving a six-figure investment package.
Keri Andriana, a graduate of both the University of Bristol and UWE Bristol, hit on the idea of creating affordable vegan luxury products in 2016 when her 15-year legal career ended in redundancy. 
She launched Amschela the following year – despite having no formal design training – with the mission to become a leader of change in the social mobility market and provide real life opportunities to young persons who are disadvantaged by barriers to access to the fashion industry.
Since then, Amschela has been showcased at London Fashion Week for three consecutive years and been featured in high-end magazines such as British Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair and British GQ gathering a large number of celebrity fans on the way, including dancer Shirley Ballas and recording artist and musical theatre actress Beverley Knight.
The investment led by Bristol & Bath Regional Capital (BBRC) will allow the brand to scale both its domestic and international market operations and to further provide opportunities for young people in the South West.
Keri, pictured, said: “This is exciting news for the brand and its young dynamic team.
“I am extremely grateful for the overwhelming support that the brand has received from the investment team at BBRC as we now look to scale and grow the brand. 
“This is the first major step to scale the brand and we are welcoming interest from co-investment investors with a strong desire to support an ethical affordable luxury brand with a strong reputation in the fashion community, a focus on social mobility, a commercial track record and high growth ambitions, to join our lead investors, therefore the round will still remain open.”
The investment makes Keri one of an elite group of black female businesswomen in the UK to secure Series A capital investment.
A report in 2020 by Extend Ventures revealed between 2009 and 2019, just 0.24% of venture capital investments went to teams of Black entrepreneurs – 38 businesses in total. Out of those, only one Black female founder raised Series A funding.
Deputy Mayor of Bristol, Asher Craig, said: “Women entrepreneurs face many obstacles when securing investment for their businesses. For Black women, there are even more hurdles to climb.
“I am delighted that Keri has secured investment capital to inject into her award-winning brand Amschela, a Bristol success story – from BBRC.
“The lack of investment in businesses run by Black women is shameful and if we are going to change the trajectory for this, the sector needs to build anti-racist investment practices in order to tackle systemic discrimination within the sector. The data never lies.”
BBRC was set up in 2015 as the region’s first home-grown, place-based impact investor aiming to transform the way finance works and deliver meaningful solutions that have a lasting impact on peoples’ lives.
