Lately we’ve seen the rise of e-commerce and online retailer stertups disrupting the relationship between distributors and the consumer. Etsy comes to mind of course. Meanwhile, Made.com in the UK is leading the charge, and lately Llustre (also UK) has hit on a model of re-connecting designers with consumers.
That trend continues today as Urbanara, an online retailer for “high quality home textiles and home wares” supplied direct from the people who make them, secures a significant funding round. TA Venture, together with a group of international investors, including Blumberg Capital and Brain-to-Ventures, has participated in a €3.5 million series A investment round in the startup.
Urbanara cuts out the usual costs such as wholesaler margins and warehousing that traditional retailers add on. Originally launched in Germany and Austria last year, Urbanara has broken out to offices in Shanghai and Berlin and now services the UK.
TA Venture has a $50 million venture capital fund focusing on seed-stage and early-stage Web companies in Ukraine, Russia and other CIS countries (former Soviet states).
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