Bayes Entrepreneurship Fund is pleased to announce an investment in Troubadour Goods Limited as part of a £3.2m fundraising round led by Harlo Equity Partners and a follow-on investment from Pembroke VCT. Troubadour designs backpacks, luggage and accessories for people in pursuit: professionals who want pieces that work hard, look right in any room and keep up with wherever the day goes.
Revenue reached £8.4 million in 2025 with US customers now accounting for more than 70% of Troubadour’s direct-to-consumer revenue. The brand is also broadening its range, with a women’s collection and a full luggage range in development. Its hero product, the Apex backpack, has been named New York Times Wirecutter’s best laptop backpack five years running, earning a loyal following among people who take their bags seriously. Troubadour is a certified B Corp, makes its bags largely from recycled materials and backs them with a five-year warranty. It sells direct to consumers, on Amazon, through wholesale and retail partners, and to corporate clients.
Troubadour’s corporate sales business, which produces branded bags for companies including Nvidia, OpenAI and J.P. Morgan, grew 141% last year to more than £800,000. Wholesale partners include Harrods, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Equinox, among others.
Abel Samet and Samuel Bail founded Troubadour in London in 2011, after careers in finance that included time at Lazard. They started by driving between tanneries and zip makers in Italy, Spain, France and England to source materials for a single bag, and named the company after the travelling storytellers who carried stories from place to place.
The £3.2 million investment round will fund Troubadour’s growth marketing and customer acquisition, a new dedicated corporate and wholesale sales team, and continued product development. It will also support further expansion in North America, Europe and beyond. Novalta Partners acted as fundraising adviser to Troubadour on the round.
Alicia Taylor, Investment Director at Pembroke Investment Managers, said:
“We are delighted to continue supporting Troubadour. Since backing Samuel and Abel as the company’s first institutional investor in 2013, we have watched them transform the business from a start-up into a leading global brand in premium work and travel bags, with a loyal customer base and blue-chip corporate clients. We are pleased to welcome Harlo as lead investor alongside a strong group of co-investors and look forward to the next phase of growth.”
Samuel Bail, Co-founder and CEO of Troubadour, said:
“When Abel and I started Troubadour, we set out to make the bag we couldn’t find: beautifully made, comfortable, lightweight, and designed for the way people actually work and travel. Fifteen years on, we’re still obsessive about getting that right, and more people find us every year. This investment lets us put more into our products and bring Troubadour to many more customers in North America and Europe. We're grateful to Pembroke, Harlo, Bayes, Norrice and our other investors for their support, and to Jonathan Friedman at Novalta Partners for his advice throughout the process.”
Justin Shulman, General Partner at Harlo Equity Partners, said:
“Troubadour has done what many consumer brands struggle to do: build genuine brand loyalty while growing across several channels at once. Its corporate and wholesale traction shows the brand travels well beyond its direct-to-consumer base, and we see significant opportunity ahead in North America and Europe. We’re delighted to lead this round and to partner with Samuel, Abel and the team.”
Helen Reynolds, Managing Director and Investment Director at Bayes Entrepreneurship Fund, said:
“Troubadour is exactly the kind of founder-led business we want to support: a disciplined team, a distinctive product and a clear route to further growth. We’re excited to back the next stage of Troubadour’s journey.”
Adam Taylor, Chief Investment Officer at Norrice Finance, said:
“Troubadour makes some of the best-designed bags we’ve come across, and Samuel and Abel have built a team to match. We’re delighted to invest alongside Pembroke, Harlo and Bayes, and to support the business as it scales further.”