Having a great concept is one thing, getting ahead as a company is another. Above all, you need capital. FashionUnited has rounded up some of the most exciting investments of the past year – some of them substantial.
Recover – $100 million
The largest investment on this list goes to Spanish textile company Recover. The company received $100 million, about 90.5 million euros. The investment will be used to accelerate the company’s production capacity and expand globally. Recover specializes in producing a sustainable, high-quality fiber from recycled cotton or a cotton blend.
B2B platform Fashion Cloud – 25 million euros
The B2B platform Fashion Cloud receives an investment of 25 million euros until the end of 2022. Fashion Cloud offers solutions for the sharing of product information, marketing materials and the optimization of stock levels, ordering processes and digital collaborations in the fashion industry. The growth capital will be used to further develop Fashion Cloud’s platform. The focus is on the further expansion of data-driven solutions that help retail companies to determine the optimal inventory and reorder the right items. Another focus is the creation of transparency in the area of sustainability. For example, brands can publish the sustainability features of their clothing on the platform.
Textile dye company Colorifix – £18 million
The UK-based biotech company Colorifix, which specializes in a purely biological dyeing process, has received an investment of 18 million British pounds (the equivalent of 21 million euros), the company said in a press release. The Colorifix team is to triple the amount. The company also plans to expand in Europe and Asia.
Textile company ByBorre – 16.9 million euros
The innovative textile company ByBorre is one of the companies that received a large investment last year. It amounts to a whopping 16.9 million euros. ByBorre is committed to the transition to a circular textile industry. To do this, the company invests in automation, materials research and data analysis to make the supply chain more efficient, productive and transparent.
Textile company AlgiKnit – $13 million
Innovative textile companies do well in investment rounds, as evidenced by materials company AlgiKnit. The company raised $13 million in June 2022. The investment will be used to grow the business. AlgiKnit manufactures seaweed-based materials.
Contact – Three million British pounds
The British start-up Contact, a platform on which creative people from the fashion industry can find each other, announced an investment of three million British pounds almost a year ago. That’s the equivalent of 3.5 million euros. Contact was founded in 2020 by Reuben Selby as a solution to a labor-intensive task for fashion companies: finding, contacting and booking models, photographers, or hairstylists and make-up artists. Contact makes creative people easier to find, shortens communication channels and takes care of the paperwork, says the company about itself. Contact’s clientele now includes around nine hundred creative people and two thousand brands, including Balenciaga, Vogue, Urban Outfitters and Primark.
Fashion tech company Lalaland – €2.1 million
The fashion tech company Lalaland has been causing a sensation in the fashion industry since it was founded in 2019. It uses artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic digital models for e-commerce. These mockups can be used by companies to represent products of any imaginable size, shape, and skin color. Lalaland secured a €2.1 million capital injection just under a year ago and plans to use this to further commercial expansion and attract new talent to the company.
Underwear company UltraViolet – 1.6 million euros
UltraViolet Group BV, the parent company of lingerie brands Sapph, UltraViolet and UltraMan, has secured a €1.6 million investment from Orange Wings Investment. With the capital injection, the company wants to further advance the international expansion of the UltraViolet brand in addition to increasing brand awareness. In addition, the group aims to drive the growth of the Sapph brand and launch the UltraMan brand, which will be launched in May 2023.
SaaS platform Tex.tracer – 1.5 million euros
The SaaS platform Tex.tracer collects verified data using blockchain technology in combination with time and geolocation markers and peer-to-peer assessments. By collecting this data, fashion and textile brands can better work towards the 2050 carbon neutral targets set by the EU. Tex.tracer received an investment of 1.5 million euros in March 2023.
Shoe brand Feraggio – 150,000 euros
Dutch shoe brand Feraggio has closed a first round of financing, the company announced in a press release. The brand has therefore collected 150,000 euros and plans to use this sum to strengthen its brand offer.
For these companies, the investment amount is unknown
Fashion brand Colorful Standard
Not every investment announcement contains the actual amount. Danish fashion brand Colorful Standard, for example, will receive an investment from ABN Amro Sustainable Impact Fund in February 2023. So although a “million amount” is mentioned, details remain unclear. With the investment, the Danish brand wants to accelerate its international ambitions.
Fashion brand Khaite
Another announcement comes from fashion brand Khaite. Khaite founder Catherine Holstein told news platform WWD that she has received an investment for the brand’s next phase of growth.
Sneaker upcycler wear
Wear, a Rotterdam-based concept for recycled sneakers, has received a capital injection, the sustainable start-up announced in a press release. With this it wants to increase and expand its range of ‘pre-loved’ sneakers.
This article was published on FashionUnited.nl. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ