Subscription-based online retailer JustFab will use a $76 million funding round to expand overseas and beginning offering new product categories.
Watch out, world. JustFab is headed your way. After establishing a European home base in Berlin, the El Segundo etailer of ultra-trendy women’s shoes, clothing and accessories announced this morning that it has secured $76 million in series B funding and plans to conquer the UK next, with a September launch now in the works. Several “other major European markets” are expected to follow by the early part of next year.
“We look at ourselves as the next evolution of an H&M or Zara,” Co-CEO Adam Goldenberg mentioned when we spoke earlier this week.
That means a serious focus on international expansion, as well as a push to expand categories beyond the shoes, handbags, denim, sunglasses and accessories the subscription-based retail company now offers to its 6 million+ members. Just don’t expect JustFab’s L.A.-minded style sense, led by Creative Director Kimora Lee Simmons and a team of celebrity stylists, to change as the company stretches its footprint overseas. In fact, Goldenberg says, all signs from JustFab market research and experiences selling to customers in Canada and Germany point to shoppers outside the U.S. happily embracing stateside style.
“We thought the styles were going to be much more different than they are,” he said of country-by-country fashion trends.
As for the next new product category that will launch later this year, Goldenberg was mum. But he did say that every type of product you’d find in an average H&M or Zara was fair game as the company grows over the next five years. Lingerie’s higher profit margins and current popularity make it a likely option, though casual tops or holiday dresses would also be good fits for existing JustFab merch.
Helping JustFab’s expansion plans is that aforementioned little ‘ole $76 million, led by Rho Ventures with participation from Matrix Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and JustFab parent company Intelligent Beauty. While the funds will primarily go toward international operations and adding new products, Goldenberg also hinted that an acquisition or two may be on the horizon.
“It was a bigger round than we expected to raise,” Goldenberg said.
Nice when things work out that way, isn’t it?
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