Posts tagged venture capital
THE BIG BUSINESS OF A WHITE SHOE

When former V magazine art director Peter Poopat and brand consultant Flavio Girolami founded Common Projects ten years ago, the market for premium-priced sneakers was relatively underdeveloped. However, their prescience was soon to be proven by a boom in the luxury sneaker category, which has seen designer labels like Balenciaga, Givenchy and Saint Laurent selling sneakers everywhere from Sneakerboy to Bergdorf Goodman.

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WHOOP RAISES USD 100 MILLION IN SERIES E FUNDING

Whoop has won over investors and quickly became commonplace in pro sports, with early fans including LeBron James and Michael Phelps, and recently raising a USD 100 million Series E at a USD 1.2 billion valuation. Whoop is a monthly subscription for 24/7 health monitoring across sleep, recovery and strain, including free hardware (Whoop Strap 3.0) and a coaching platform designed to optimize behavior.

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SKILLSHARE PARTNERS WITH ADOBE AND RAISES ADDITIONAL FUNDING

After raising a USD 66 million Series D funding in August to expand access to creative courses globally, Skillshare that it has raised new funding from Adobe, the global leader in creative software. The total amount of funding was not disclosed, but this latest raise is part of Skillshare’s Series D round announced this summer.

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DIGITAL FITNESS IS ON A RUN

Digital fitness is on a run, literally, as training at home becomes the new normal. Peloton’s Q4 earnings showed a 172% YoY jump in revenue, and its connected subscribers were up 113% YoY, Apple announced Fitness Plus, its new virtual fitness product, and Zwift, an indoor training app, reached unicorn status after a USD 450 million funding round.

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LULULEMON, PELOTON AND THE RISE OF DIGITAL FITNESS

Overall, the fitness industry has already been experiencing the massive growth of digital fitness, out-of-studio experiences and connected fitness. Notable platforms, such as Peloton and Mirror, have created enormous awareness, brand recognition and loyal followings. While they offer solutions that are able to fully replace the in-studio experience, they are often supplemental to the physical studio or gym experience. Consumers still desire physical human interaction but often schedules, travel and other issues impede their ability to get to a physical gym. Today’s new connected are combining training, social interaction, gamification and many forms of engagement for the consumer.

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REFORMATION SELLS MAJORITY STAKE TO PERMIRA

In 2009 Yael Aflalo, a model turned fashion entrepreneur, opened a vintage clothing resale business she ran part time from the back room of a Los Angeles retail store. Called Reformation, it sold stylish secondhand items or garments made from re-purposed materials. In 2013, the brand was scaled into an e-commerce business with a downtown factory and three boutiques — a vision honed by Ms. Aflalo’s experience, gained earlier in her career, of the environmental and human toll the global fashion industry was taking.

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