NYC-based Adore Me, yet another player in the subscription-based e-commerce business, has raised a second round of funding totaling $2.5 million. Investors in the new round included Redhills Ventures, U.S. angels, plus Jaina Capital and Ventech Capital, two funds that specialize in Internet, information technology, communications technology, and green startups.
Since its start in November 2011, Adore Me has generated monthly sales increases approaching 50% with its personalized “showrooms” of lingerie. According to co-founder and CEO Morgan Hermand-Waiche, the site is now on track to generate between $1 million and $2 million in revenue this year, with 20% of total sales projected to be swimwear, a newly added category.
In addition to Hermand-Waiche, Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin are Adore Me’s other co-founders. All are serial entrepreneurs – Grinda previously founded Olx.com, an online classified site, and Marin is CEO of Latin America-focused DeRemate.com, for example.
Hermand-Waiche says that the company was initially angel funded while he was in Harvard Business School studying. Adore Me is now actively looking for partnerships with publishers or other ecommerce sites addressing U.S. women, he adds.
With Adore Me, the idea is to create a personalized online lingerie club, which offers designer lingerie, and now swimwear, at affordable prices. After a user signs up, they’re given a complimentary consultation and one-on-one attention from experts, who then create monthly customized showrooms tailored to each site member. Each set, manufactured by Hermand-Waiche’s family owned business or sourced elsewhere, is sold for $39.95, and includes free shipping and returns.
Included in user showrooms are bras, briefs, babydolls, slips, underwear, corsets, bustiers, shapewear, legwear and swimwear. (Hey guys, betcha didn’t know girls buy all that stuff, huh?) Members can also choose to skip a month if they don’t like the current collection. For commitment-phobes, there’s a free level of service where users can just buy at will from their showrooms. However, paying members get their 6th set free.
Adore Me now has 50,000 members and around 100,000 visits per month. In terms of sales growth, “it is too early to talk about absolute figures of sales per month,” says Hermand-Waiche, “but what we can say is that month on month revenues growth has been 40% since January.”
Believe it or not, Adore Me isn’t the first startup we’ve seen this year aimed at helping women find better underthings. True&Co and Brayola have also received funding to do the same, but with more emphasis on fit than on discount pricing.
Update: Clarified that some lingerie comes from partners, its not all manufactured in house. Says Morgan: “Adore Me designs and manufactures its own products. This is (and from far) the essence of our business. Then, it is true that we also have a few partners amongst some of the finest brands across the U.S. and Europe, but we unfortunately have strong non disclosure agreements with these selected brands so we can’t quote them publicly.”