Member Article

London menswear startup to expand after raising $8m 'Series A' funding

Thread.com, a free online personal styling service for men, which uses a unique combination of human stylists and powerful algorithms, has completed a significant round of ‘Series A’ funding, worth $8m, backed by big name investors spanning the fashion and technology industries.

Co-founders of Google-owned DeepMind and former Saks Fifth Avenue President join lead investor Balderton Capital and a host of other top backers from tech and fashion

Thread’s portfolio of investors include Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founders of Google-owned DeepMind, an artificial intelligence startup which the search giant acquired for over £400m in 2014.

Other backers include Andrew Jennings, former President of Saks Fifth Avenue, Sebastian Picardo, Chief Retail Officer at Lane Crawford, and Maurice Helfgott, former Board Director at M&S.

The funds will be used to grow Thread’s fast-expanding customer base, which now stands at over 200,000 men in the UK.

Leading the latest round of funding is Balderton Capital, investors in such companies as YOOX, the fashion e-commerce company that recently merged with Net-a-Porter, Kobalt, the music industry service provider taking the sector by storm, crowdfunding investment platform Crowdcube, and Citymapper, the real-time public transport app.

As part of this news, Terry Betts will join Thread as head of business development. Mr Betts was part of the founding team at Mr. Porter, and most recently Buying Director at Selfridges where he oversaw the retailer’s menswear division.

Betts will be expanding Thread’s industry partnerships, which already include leading fashion retailers such as Liberty, Harvey Nichols and Urban Outfitters, and brands such as Sunspel, Hardy Amies, Richard James, YMC, Folk, Oliver Spencer and Jigsaw.

Thread.com, co-founder and CEO, Kieran O’Neill said: “Thread was born from a desire to make it easier for men to feel confident about the way they dress, without investing loads of personal time shopping or learning about clothes.

“It is a philosophy that has struck a chord with the modern man and has seen us take the business from concept to over 200,000 users across the UK over the last few years.

“This investment round, featuring some of the most influential players in technology and fashion, will be crucial in helping us to develop the experience further and deliver it to more men across the UK and the world.”

Commenting on the funding, Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton Capital, added: “Thread stands alone as their unique solution understands and serves an often-forgotten customer base: the male clothes shopper. Their product shines through by combining smart technology with styling expertise, and applying this across a vast range of products and prices points that make Thread accessible to the average guy on the street.

“The enormous success of online fashion retail sites such as ASOS highlight the retail world’s steady shift from bricks and mortar to online and demonstrates that consumer appetite for this kind of shopping model is alive and well. Thread’s commitment to innovating the digital user experience is exactly why we at Balderton chose to back them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .