Astley Clarke secures investment funding

Online luxury jeweller Astley Clarke has appointed fashion

entrepreneur Carmen Busquets to its board.

In addition, the business has recently secured a second round of investment funding from Busquets who is a founding investor and board director of Net-A-Porter.com.

Commenting on her appointment Busquets said: "Astley Clarke is one of the pioneers in building a luxury jewellery brand focused on e-commerce and the first brand to offer a full range of high end, iconic jewellery online, supporting a new generation of luxury consumer who wants the freedom online to choose product that is right for them. I believe that Astley Clarke has the potential to become a global Brand online as well as offline competing in the International Retail Environment."

The company said the current round of funding will be used to increase brand equity as it looks to international markets with the launch of a US dollar website this month. In addition, the retailer plans to develop new jewellery collections and interactive technologies to engage the luxury consumer online.

Alongside its online expansion Astley Clarke has also initiated a retail strategy with key partners including Harrods and Liberty.