Exclusive – Fab.com, which started out as Fabulis, a social networking site for gay men, has not only recently changed its name but also started from scratch with an entirely new business centered around ‘design online’. The company is today debuting its all-new website, which features daily design inspirations and invited member-only flash sales of design items at significant discounts.
In addition, TechCrunch has learned, the company is currently in the process of finalizing a new financing round, and we’ve also learned that self-proclaimed design junkie and actor Ashton Kutcher has invested in the business and will be joining the startup’s advisory board.
Fab.com launches today with 200,000 pre-registered members and over 175 designers and manufacturers. Flash sales will launch daily at 11 AM Eastern time, 7 days per week and lasting for 72 hours. As is common with flash sales sites, upcoming deals are announced exclusively to members, through the Fab.com website as well as via a daily e-newsletter.
Fab.com membership is free but the startup says numbers are restricted in order to maintain “exceptional prices” for design products in a range of categories including furniture, home accessories, technology, lighting, art and toys.
Sales will be curated by design industry experts like Monica Khemsurov (founder of SightUnseen, editor at Details, former editor at ID), Fab.com Buying Director David Branham (former senior buyer for The Conran Shop) and well-known product designer Karim Rashid.
Based in New York, Fab.com was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg, formerly of XING, socialmedian, and Jobster, with design industry vet Bradford Shellhammer, contributor to Dwell and formerly of Blu Dot and Design Within Reach, along with Deepa and Nishith Shah in India and Veerle Pieters in Belgium.
