Revolutionising the home decorating experience and challenging the premium players.

Pembroke VCT has made an initial investment into COAT, the high-grade, sustainable paint company. COAT, which has been carbon-neutral since launch, is revolutionising the home decorating experience by redefining the customer experience of purchasing paint. 

Founded by Rob Abrahams and Rob Green in 2020, COAT was launched to address the negative aspects associated with the $90bn legacy paint industry and meet the needs of a more contemporary consumer by focusing on quality, sustainability and customer experience. Taking advantage of the founders’ combined experience in the paint industry and consumer marketing business, COAT offers a range of hand-made-to-order paints with free next-day delivery.

COAT has simple ‘paint principles’ designed to allow customers to transform their home without the struggle, with just three paint finishes and a curated range of 36 on-trend colours selected and constantly refined, based on customer feedback. Rather than wasteful tester pots, COAT offers fully recyclable peel-and-stick swatches that not only allow customers to compare colours easily in different areas but also achieve 95% less waste than traditional messy tester pots.

In the seven months since launch, COAT has built an engaged community of over 20,000 customers and has collaborated with other premium brands such as Urban Outfitters and Swoon.

COAT is proud to have been carbon neutral from day one and places a huge emphasis on sustainability, which is evidenced in its Ethical Business report. Its made-to-order paint prioritises sustainable materials, results in zero-waste production and is offered alongside environment-friendly bamboo paint supplies. COAT also offers a unique 360-degree recycling service for leftover paint.

Pembroke’s investment recognises COAT’s successful launch during the Covid-19 pandemic and its rapid growth as a challenger brand in the premium paint sector. The investment from Pembroke will contribute toward product development, geographical expansion, and digital development to further improve the customer’s designing experience.

Andrew Wolfson, CEO of Pembroke commented; “We are delighted to join COAT on their journey at this early stage. When we first met Rob and Rob we were impressed with their complementary skillset and experience across the paint industry and consumer marketing. Together they have created a high-quality paint product with a strong digital delivery and a deep rooted focus on sustainability.’’

Rob Green, Co-Founder, COAT said: “We started COAT to change the paint game for good – making it much simpler, easier and environmentally responsible for people to glow-up their homes. Whether that’s from the curated range of 36 colours or clever Peel & Stick swatches, through to high-grade water-based paints and the Carbon Neutral operations. We’ve gone ‘ground up’ with COAT and built a paint company with a difference that we, and our customers, can be proud of.”