JustFabulous, a fashion retail and styling platform, has raised $33 million in Series A funding lead by Matrix Partners (who also invested in flash sales giant Gilt Groupe) with co-investment from Technology Crossover Ventures and fashion mogul and TV star, Kimora Lee Simmons. Josh Hannah from Matrix Partners joins the board of directors for JustFabulous while Kimora Lee Simmons will become President and Creative Director. This round brings Just Fabulous’ total funding to $62 million.
JustFabulous was incubated by Intelligent Beauty in March 2010 and has since grown to over 2.5 million members. Similar to sites like ShoeDazzle and BeachMint, JustFabulous operates a monthly distribution model.
Users sign up for JustFab.com, input their style preferences and each month, will receive a personalized boutique of shoes and handbags that have been chosen to fit their individual style. With each offering, members receive styling advice and outfit recommendations to complete their look from head to toe.
Each item is $39.95, new styles are added monthly, and all items are actually created and branded by JustFabulous. Co-founder Adam Goldenberg explains that while the quality of the handbags and shoes are high, the site is able to keep the costs down because it works directly with manufacturers. He compared the quality of JustFabulous’ products to those from Steve Madden or Nine West, where prices can range from $60 to upwards of a $100.
The company is also expanding to other types of items including denim, jewelry and sunglasses. The new funding will be used to expand to other categories and for international expansion. JustFabulous will also be looking to curate selections from celebrities and well-known stylists (I have a feeling Simmons will come in handy with this goal). Already, the company’s shoes and bags have been spotted on a number of well-known celebs.
For a startup that has only been around for a little over a year, JustFabulous is seeing impressive growth. The site is doing $3 million per month in revenue and was doing $500,000 in monthly revenue a year ago. The company is nearing 3 million members and is on track to sell sell 1.5 to 2 million handbags and shoes in the next year.
Hannah is extremely optimistic about JustFabulous’ future. “We think this can as big or bigger than Gilt Groupe,” he explains. For background, Matrix was an early investor in Gilt Groupe.
“We believe this space will experience explosive growth in the coming months, and the JustFabulous team is poised to transform the fashion industry,” he adds. “While JustFabulous provides a service that savvy, fashion-conscious women are clamoring for, its level of personalization is unmatched.”
The monthly retail model combined with personalized curation is one that is catching on, and seeing success in the e-commerce world. And celebrity endorsements help. ShoeDazzle is cofounded by Kim Kardashian, BeachMint’s JewelMint has backing too from Kate Bosworth and her stylist Cher Coulter, and sister site StyleMint features T-shirts designed by the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. The celebrity allure and promotion seems to be key in these types of retail sites. JustFabulous is probably wise to expand to a number of verticals, so that it can compete with all of these niche sites.
Intelligent Beauty incubates and operates businesses in the personal care, beauty and fashion spaces. The company believes in a better way to launch and grow businesses in the marketplace today, utilizing technology and a disciplined approach to brand building. Since 2006 Intelligent Beauty has created or introduced new businesses and brands to the market including SENSA®, DERMSTORE® and most recently JustFabulous (JustFab.com) The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California.
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