Design Sales Site Fab.com Hits 350,000 Members, Raises $8M To Celebrate

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 online flash sales of design items.

The startup recently completed a $1 million early-stage round of funding from investor/actor Ashton Kutcher, SV Angel, SoftTech VC and previous backers First Round Capital, Baroda Ventures and The Washington Post.

The company has now raised another $8 million in Series A funding, we’ve learned.

Menlo Ventures led the round, and several existing investors participated, including First Round, Baroda Ventures, The Washington Post, Fab.com founder and CEO Jason Goldberg, SoftTech VC, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary and A-Grade Investments, and Zelkova Ventures.

A number of angel investors also took part, including Kevin Rose, Jon Anderson, Don Baer, Josh Kushner, Dave Morgan, Ben Ling, and David Tisch. Quite an impressive list of backers, I daresay.

Fab.com features daily design inspirations and flash sales at up to 70% off retail. Fab.com membership is free but numbers are restricted in order to maintain low prices. Since launching on June 9, 2011, Fab.com claims more than 350,000 people have signed up for the service, with members placing more than 1,000 orders per day.

Earlier this month, Fab.com CEO Jason Goldberg told me the startup was already profitable on $1.3 million in revenue after only 30 days after its debut, with a workforce of around 45 employees.

The company says it will use the proceeds of the fresh round of financing to grow its base of designers, expand sales categories and develop more community features.

The round brings its total capital raised to about $11.6 million.