Start-ups news and archive

UK government unveils 1.25 billion pound fund for startups during Covid-19 pandemic

The UK government has announced a further 1.25 billion pounds in funding to protect companies “driving innovation and development” during the Covid-19 pandemic. The support package, announced on Monday by UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, comprises a 500 million pound investment fund, called Future Fund, for high-growth companies, as well as 750...

People |INTERVIEW Featured

Meet founder of Fashinnovation, matchmaker of fashion and tech

After over fifteen years working in public relations Jordana Guimarães co-founded Fashinnovation in 2018 with her husband Marcelo which launched during New York Fashion Week. The aim of the multimedia platform was to connect entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology to ignite change within the fashion industry. Now she counts Fern Mallis,...

BusinessFeatured

Unmade announces Maersk Growth investment

London-based fashion and sportswear software company, Unmade has announced it has received new investment from Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of the global leader in transport and logistics, A.P. Moller – Maersk. The investment will be used to help the company in three critical areas: smart logistics, enabled trade and sustainable...

Business

Farfetch receives 250 million dollar investment for growth

Farfetch has raised 250 million dollars in investments from Tencent and Dragonner - a Chinese global technology pioneer in China and a San Francisco-based investment firm, respectively. Each is purchasing 125 million in convertible senior notes. This financing supplements Farfetch’s current liquidity position, which amounted to approximately 320...

Business |INTERVIEW Featured

Fashion blockchain start-up Retraced: “Building trust throughout the entire industry”

German start-up Retraced uses blockchain technology to collect data in the value chain of fashion brands and thus contributes to transparency in the supply chain: End customers can trace the extent to which their consumer behaviour influences the environment and the lives of the people involved with a particular product. For this business model,...

Video

Web Summit 2019 talk over social commerce met UK start-up LetsBab

Bonnie Takhar, former CEO of Charlotte Olympia, talks about how the idea for its e-commerce platform LetsBab was created ten years ago. LetsBab was launched earlier this year in the UK and the US. Via the app you can recommend your fashion, beauty and lifestyle products to friends and family. You can share a product via sms, e-mail or social...

Business

Fast Retailing links robotic startups to enhance warehouse automation

Japanese fashion group Fast Retailing has announced partnerships with two robotics startups in a bid to step up its warehouse automation. The company, which owns Japanese fast-fashion giant Uniqlo, has linked with Mujin Inc., a Japanese intelligent industrial robot controller manufacturer, and Exotec Solutions SAS, a French robotics solutions...

Retail |CEO INTERVIEW Featured

Backed by Max Levchin, this startup wants to solve e-tailers’ returns nightmare

Shopping online is easier than ever, thanks to services such as same day delivery, “buy now, pay later” and real time shipping updates. Returning an item, however, isn’t always a seamless process. Customers often have to print a return label (“who owns a printer these days?”, wonders the average Millennial), pay for the costs of sending the...

Retail |RESALE TUESDAYS Featured

Fashion resale, a booming market: interview with Charles Gorra, CEO of Rebag

The stigma against second hand apparel and footwear is quickly becoming a thing of the past: according to a recent report by resale platform ThredUp, the market has grown 21 times faster than first hand fashion retail over the past three years and is expected to grow from 24 billion US dollars to 51 billion US dollars in the next five years, in...

BusinessFeatured

ThredUp gets 175 million dollars in funding as resale market continues to boom

US fashion resale company ThredUp has announced it has received 175 million dollars in funding that it will use to “fuel a new wave of growth and platform expansion.” With the new funding, ThredUp is launching a platform called RAAS (Resale-As-A-Service), which will provide services for retailers to buy and sell secondhand clothes. The services...

Business

Fashion resale startup Cudoni secures 1.4 million pounds

Luxury fashion resale brand Cudoni has secured 1.4 million pounds worth of investment to support its international expansion plans. The multi-million pound backing comes from founder of men’s retailer Charles Tyrwhitt, Nick Wheeler, as well as Lord Mervyn Davies, chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association, Matt Cooper, founder of Capital One bank,...

BusinessFeatured

Fashion for Good and Plug & Play: 59 sustainable startups to know

The fashion industry is not known for its social and environmental compatibility. On the contrary: The fashion industry is the second biggest consumer of water and is responsible for 8-10 percent of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, as the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion reported...