Hot on the heels of its merger with rival ShoeDazzle (yes, pun intended), subscription-based fashion commerce site JustFab, now with 35 million users, is once again adding to its coffers, to pick up the pace on international growth. Today the company is announcing that it has raised $40 million in a Series C round of funding.
This latest round was led by Shining Capital of Hong Kong, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners, Rho Ventures, Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and Intelligent Beauty. Co-CEO Adam Goldenberg tells me the funding will specifically be used to keep building out its international business, in Asia as well as Europe.
JustFab has been doing a fair amount of international growth already, both organically and inorganically. Other purchases have included Fab Shoes to expand into France and Spain, and FabKids, to enter the children’s clothes market.
The Series C comes a little over a year after JustFab closed a $76 million round, also with the aim of using the investment to expand its footprint and product line-up beyond its mainline offering of footwear for women. The company has now raised some $149 million in total.
Goldenberg says that while the interest from an Asian investor will certainly see the company moving into that part of the world, this will not be the only target.
“France and Spain so far are going extremely well,” he told me in an interview, “so we want to do more in Western Europe.” In fact, the company says that it is currently adding 400,000 members per month in the region, with over 3 million users in Western Europe.
“We are also looking at Australia, in addition to Asia, because over the next four years we want to build a global brand,” he added. This may include more acquisitions, or simply more offices opening on its own steam. “It’s important to have a strong balance sheet so that if there is good opportunity to buy something we can.”
Indeed, with much of e-commerce a game of scale, netting more users and more sales are essential to make the economics of companies like JustFab work. Goldenberg notes that this round is not related to the ShoeDazzle acquisition, which was financed from working capital. JustFab expects the newly-merged company to be profitable by next year.
The new round of investment also comes at the same time that JustFab is moving into a new product category beyond the shoes, accessories, kids’ clothes and apparel that it already sells. No word on what that will be, except that it will be launched before the year is out.
JustFab is not sharing any details on its company valuation, but it is increasingly becoming more competitive against a Fab of another name — that is, Fab.com. JustFab is currently suing the latter company for trademark infringement and unfair competition, a suit that Goldenberg says is still ongoing, with no further comment.
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