farfetch.com, the online fashion marketplace for independent fashion boutiques from across Europe and North America, has announced a $4.5 million growth equity investment from Advent Venture Partners. Frederic Court, General Partner at Advent, is joining the farfetch.com board. farfetch.com has also announced a key strengthening of its team with two key appointments: Susanne Tide-Frater joins as Brand and Strategy Director. Susanne is the former Creative Director at Harrods and Selfridges, and is currently Fashion Director at 19 Entertainment, where she helps develop its fashion collections including Victoria Beckham and Roland Mouret.
Andrew Robb joins as Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Andrew was Managing Director of membership-only online retailer Cocosa. He brings with him a wealth of ecommerce experience.
London based farfetch.com was founded by serial entrepreneur Jos Neves in October 2008. Initially open to European boutiques, it expanded to North American boutiques in 2009. The site has experienced rapid growth and now represents 44 boutiques that sell over 1,000 brands and 11,000 individual lines through its marketplace. Visitors have increased by more than 70% every six months since launch, and this growth is also reflected in sales, which in the last six months have seen an uplift of 105% on the previous six month period.
The site's customers have access to a hand-picked collection of clothing, accessories and lifestyle pieces by designer brands, ranging from established names such as Comme des Garons and Balenciaga to emerging designers such as Current Elliot and Bless. L'Eclaireur, the original Paris concept store, is the latest to offer online customers access to its array of global brands and fashion vanguards (from Christopher Kane to Junya Watanabe, Balmain to Tim Hamilton) via farfetch.com, joining the site for the AW10 season.
Advent's new investment will be used by the company to continue expanding its operations in Europe and North America as well as to expand into Brazil. In Brazil farfetch.com is building a network of independent boutiques and designers who will sell through its Brazil-only marketplace. farfetch.com has already built a global following, with customers in over 100 countries. Approximately 40% of orders come from the UK and Europe, 30% from North America, 15% from Asia and the Middle East, 5% from Australia and 5% from Brazil and the rest of South America.
New appointment Susanne Tide-Frater, Brand and Strategy Director, said: "I am delighted to join farfetch.com and be part of the team led by Jos. farfetch.com is one of the most innovative and fast-emerging fashion websites and has the opportunity to become the experiential online destination for forward-thinking fashion shoppers. This is a natural evolution for me and I am very keen to be part of it."
"The online fashion market is a vast and fast-growing market which we targeted as part of our strategy to invest in capital-efficient ecommerce businesses. Following an extensive review of the market, we decided to back farfetch.com which hit all our investment criteria: proven entrepreneurial team, fast-growing revenue, highly differentiated positioning and a strong ability to scale with limited capital requirements. We are thrilled to be involved with a company which has already made significant impact within its market based on its unique business model", said Frederic Court, General Partner at Advent.
Commenting on these two key milestones for farfetch.com, Jos Neves, CEO and Founder, said: "Our customers tell us they love farfetch.com for our unique range of labels and for our informed fashion viewpoint and vision. With Advent, Susanne and Andrew on board we are now in a very strong position to accelerate our growth, benefitting from their deep understanding of our market and proven expertise at building businesses. They will also help us provide our partners with the best tools and platform to help them better leverage this fast-growing channel."
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