Last month Moscow-based fashion retailer Trends Brands announced it had raised $4 million in a Series B round. The amount includes $3 million from French venture fund Ventech and $1 million from Ru-Net and Kite Ventures, two Russian funds operating internationally, a source close to the deal told East-West Digital News.
Ru-Net and Kite Ventures had already invested $1 million in the startup in late 2011 – a transaction which had not been made public so far – soon after the company’s launch in July of that year.
Targeting a young, modern audience with a large, mostly exclusive and affordable offer, Trends Brands promotes rising Western and Russian designers as well as own-branded items made with the participation of Korean designers.
The retailer’s 26-year-old founder, Anastasiya Sartan, told Russian media in a recent interview that she aims to “create the first e-commerce love brand in Russia, similar to Urban Outfitters, Nasty Gal or Asos in the West, with most customers coming to the site again and again.”
Trends Brands’ total sales – both offline and offline, with five boutiques in Moscow in addition to the Trendsbrands.ru website – exceeded $10 million last year. This may reach up to $80 million by 2015, according to Sartan.
The catalog comprises around 8,000 SKUs with an average order value of 3,500 rubles, Trends Brands PR manager Polina Gonchar told East-West Digital News. The startup offers free delivery all over Russia, including same-day courier delivery in select cities.
The startup’s ambitious plans include the extension of the assortment with weekly updates, the opening of pick-up points, and “full process automation,” Gonchar said. Not only will Trends Brands strengthen its presence in Russia’s regions, it intends to “expand to the Ukrainian and Kazakhstan markets.”
From waitress in New York to CEO in Moscow
Gonchar recounted for EWDN Sartan’s improbable career from waitress to CEO: “While working in New York bars three years ago, she spent her spare time assisting designers she knew. Upon returning to Moscow, she decided to sell clothes to Russian ‘hipsters,’ taking with her 20 dresses for friends who, by that time, had set up a showroom in town. The goods sold out quickly, and Anastasia brought more, while the partners opened new showrooms and two websites.”
“When Sartan fell out with her friends, however, she decided to go solo. Her legacy from the previous business was a few tables, several laptops and $10,000, which she used to start TrendsBrands.ru,” Gonchar continued.
Trying to go head-to-head with the likes of D&G and Prada on such a budget made little sense, so “Anastasiya decided to put together a range of inexpensive and lesser-known brands, taking great pains to select the most fashionable items – she wanted to sell fashion trends, not brands and labels.”
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT – The total volume of Russian online retail reached approximately $13 billion, in 2012, up 25% from the previous year. EWDN has published an in-depth research on Russian e-commerce, based on interview with more than 80 market players. To receive free insights or to order the full version, please contact us at [email protected]
