Stratford couple say rat character is like Sherlock Holmes
A SUCCESSFUL crowdfunding campaign which has raised £325,000 will help with a plan to make Posh Rat a household name.
The children’s character and detective was created by a Stratford couple who appeared on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den earlier this year.
Charlene Mitchell-Hood and her husband Simon Hood were inspired to launch their own business after creating characters and bedtime stories for their daughter, Goldie, now aged four.
Their aim is to make Sooper Books a worldwide storytelling business for children and parents.
When they appeared on Dragons’ Den, they secured a one per cent investment from all five dragons on the show.
The Dragons were drawn to their ambition and drive and that’s led to a knock-on effect with members of the public who saw the episode wanting to invest as well as, Simon explained.
“After the show we had a lot of people asking if they could invest in Sooper Books too, which was interesting because we hadn’t really thought of fundraising that way before but it was the right fit for the business and we wanted people to come along on the journey with us.
“We are now halfway through writing our first feature length book for distribution in the autumn.”
That book is about Posh Rat, who Simon describes as a posh Sherlock Holmes who operates and solves crimes in the rat underworld of London’s Underground. He comes from a very well-bred family but wants to be a more like a rat of the people.
In order to expand their business, Charlene and Simon – who are joint author-illustrators of Sooper Books – launched a crowdfunder on Crowdcube looking for £250,000.
However, they’ve surpassed that and it currently stands at £325,000, which means the money will go towards the Posh Rat book and to hire Emmy-winning writers so the brand can increase even further.
Simon and Charlene have said they not only want to entertain and inspire children, they want to use their books to help solve literacy issues in the UK and America through a wide selection of digital and audio offerings.
“We have so many characters in our books and so many ideas but Peter Jones from Dragons’ Den told us to focus on one thing and then you can have a suite of products around it and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Simon.
