The Leeds business launched its bid for funding via Crowdcube at the beginning of the month and was seeking £350,000 to help finance its expansion plans in Europe and the US, where it is setting up a new 186sqm facility in Austin, Texas.

Yesterday the firm surpassed its original target and, at the time of writing, had secured more than £373,000 of backing from 652 investors.

The largest amount pledged by a single investor to date was £26,050.

Awesome Merchandise founder Luke Hodson said he was delighted to have reached the £350,000 goal in under a fortnight and described the response and support that had been received so far as “really positive”.

At the outset of the crowdfunding process he had said the firm would be open to overfunding if investor sentiment proved positive.

“Having so many investors involved in Awesome is really exciting for us, with many customers, friends and family now being a crucial part of our journey. We are now overfunding and will leave the campaign open until we reach £750,000 or the end of the campaign,” Hodson said.

“We can’t wait to get started on taking Awesome onto the next stages.” 

The Crowdcube campaign will run for a further 28 days.

Hodson said the additional funds would be used to bring some production lines online faster than originally envisaged and would also help boost its plans around live events in both the UK and US, such as exhibitions and collaborative events.

The new Texas facility is in the final phase of fit-out and is set to begin production next month.

Awesome Merchandise currently employs more than 80 staff and had sales of £5.5m last year, up 50% on the prior year. The firm aims to reach £8m turnover this year.

It prints a wide variety of customised merchandise and garments for clients including brands, bands, and creatives.