Amsterdam-based Otrium has raised $120 million in a fresh round of funding co-led by BOND and Index Ventures, and saw follow-on investment from Eight Roads Ventures.
In a new round of funding, BOND and Index Ventures, along with Eight Roads Ventures, led by BOND, gave Otrium $120 million. Eight Roads Ventures also put money into the company.
The series C round is expected to help Otrium break into the US market, build up more fashion capabilities that haven’t been sold, and hire new staff. As part of the deal, Juliet de Baubigny, a general partner at BOND, will join Otrium’s board of directors.
Liz Bacelar, Global Executive Director of IT Innovation for Estee Lauder, said that the rise in online shopping caused by the pandemic could increase online sales by up to 25% in the next few years. “Most outlet stores aren’t connected to online shopping, and Otrium could help this area grow.”
About 12% of all the clothes that are made are still not sold. To put that in perspective, that’s about 230 million clothes in Germany alone, which has about 80 million people. Otrium wants to lower this number. It now has 300 fashion stores in its app, 3 million registered members, and partnerships with big brands like Karl Lagerfeld, Joseph, Anine Bing, Belstaff, Reiss, and ASICS.
When they sell end-of-season items through Otrium, they still have full control over the prices, how they are displayed, and how many people can see them.
Otrium has just released a set of expanded analytics features for brands that help with forecasting. These features help brands find closets for couture clothes and find closets for those clothes. By learning more about what sells and what doesn’t, Otrium partners can get a better idea of what could be the next big thing in their store.
“We think the fashion world will rebalance in the next few years, with more sales coming from iconic items that brands sell year after year and less coming from new seasonal releases. “We work with brands to help them figure out which of their products will last, at what price, and in what quantity,” says Milan Daniels, CEO and co-founder of Otrium.
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