A London-wide search for the next £100 million retail entrepreneur has received a boost as River Island was unveiled as its latest fashion partner.
The High Street retailer will give successful applicants access to its worldwide operations, free advice and contacts.
The “Collection” project is the latest part of the UK’s only retail hub, TrueStart, which offers budding entrepreneurs a £50,000 investment, free office space in a state of the art office in the new 1 million square foot Victoria redevelopment and advice from Land Securities and Accenture.
River Island joins a year after the hub, founded by private equity group True Capital, launched businesses including The Unseen, which creates chameleon-type fabrics that change with its environment, and Presence Orb, which analyses customers’ data using retailer’s instore wifi.
TrueStart co-founder Matt Truman, a former analyst at JPMorgan, is hoping to emulate the success of technology hubs in Tech City in retail.
