How Fashion-Forward Community Poshmark Raised $87 Million
Poshmark, a social marketplace and community for fashionistas, recently announced $87.5 million in Series D funding.
What's likely driving investment (and hope) in the online fashion platform is that it is embracing community and embracing innovating in the technology sector simultaneously.
The company recently introduced Poshmark Stylist Match, an in-app social styling engine featuring a voice-enabled skill for Amazon Alexa, allowing shoppers to be styled in real-time by Poshmark's community of over 3 million Seller Stylists (1 in 50 women in the U.S. is a Seller Stylist on the platform according to Poshmark).
Users must first activate the Alexa app, and are then prompted to indicate which event they want styling for (e.g. Date Night, Casual Weekend, etc.). Shoppers will then be matched with Poshmark's Seller Stylists who will deliver style suggestions to the shopper's Web-based "Dressing Room."
"Since day one, we've focused on building a highly engaged community, enabling our network of Seller Stylists to deliver a shopping experience that's personal, not just personalized," said Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Poshmark.
"With the introduction of social styling, we're revolutionizing the way people shop by combining data, social interactions and people-powered commerce to create the fashion mall for the Instagram generation, and we're thrilled to welcome Temasek as we further scale the company and continue disrupting the $2.4 trillion global fashion industry."
The recent funding round was led by Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, bringing the company's total funding to nearly $160 million. Mayfield, Menlo Ventures, GGV Capital, Inventus Capital, Uncork Capital, Union Grove Venture Partners and Cross CreekAdvisors also participated.
