Lyst, a London-based premium fashion search platform, has secured $85 million (approx £60 million) in funding from Draper Esprit and other investors including Fidelity International, Novator Capital, Giano Capital, and C4 Ventures.
As a part of the funding round, Lyst also appointed Mateo Rando as Chief Product Officer, joining from Spotify, and promoted Emma McFerran to Chief Operating Officer, who was previously Chief People Officer & General Counsel having joined Lyst in 2014.
According to the reports, Lyst might pursue a public listing that could take place in the next year.
Fashion search platform
Founded by Chris Morton, Devin Hunt, and Sebastjan Trepca in 2010, Lyst is a global fashion search platform that lets users search thousands of online fashion stores at once.
The company operates an inventory-free platform and uses its proprietary data engine to provide each customer with a highly personalised shopping experience.
As per the company’s claims, over 150 million shoppers a year use Lyst to buy from the most comprehensive range of products from the world’s leading fashion brands and retailers.
Brands on Lyst include Balenciaga, Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, Moncler, Off-White, Prada, Saint Laurent and Valentino.
Strong growth in 2020
The company saw strong growth in 2020, with over 150M shoppers using the Lyst app and website to buy from an assortment of over 8M products from 17,000 brands and retailers.
Last year, GMV exceeded $500 million (approx £353 million), following 1100% growth in new users on the Lyst app. Lifetime GMV is now over $2 billion (approx £1.4 billion).
Partnership with Good on You
Also, Lyst partnered with Good on You, an organisation that helps shoppers make informed purchasing decisions by rating companies based on social and environmental factors.
Chris Morton, CEO & Founder at Lyst, said: “Lyst is rapidly becoming a fashion category leader, which hundreds of millions of fashion lovers rely on to decide what to buy. While our app and website already enjoy very large audiences in the USA & Europe, fashion e-commerce remains under-penetrated in general, with huge growth potential globally. We’re excited to use this raise from top-tier investors to continue personalising the fashion shopping experience to each of our millions of customers while helping our partner brands thrive.”
Nicola McClafferty, Partner at Draper Esprit, added: “Lyst has made huge progress over the past year with its industry-leading app for the fast-growing online luxury fashion market – a trend which looks set to continue as consumers retain their newfound digital habits, and demand for fashion rises further post-pandemic. In recent years we have seen other high-growth fashion tech businesses taking the next step, and we believe Lyst is well-positioned to capitalise on this market momentum. Draper Esprit has backed Lyst since Series A and we believe this latest round sets the business up for an exciting next phase.”
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