SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LE TOTE, the largest online closet for women to borrow everyday clothing, today announced $8.8 million in Series A funding led by Azure Capital Partners, with participation from Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Simon Venture Group, AITV, Epic Ventures, Arsenal Venture Partners, Funders Club and individuals such as Geoff Ralston, Justin Kan and Joanne Wilson. Following a year of nearly 600 percent growth in revenues and a team that grew from 13 to 100, LE TOTE will use the funding to further expand their brand offering and infrastructure to support aggressive growth plans for 2015.
In a world where fast fashion reigns, LE TOTE is changing the way women view shopping and the need to own every item in their closet through its personalized fashion rental service. For $49/month, LE TOTE customers have unlimited access to borrow from the more than 80,000 pieces of clothing and accessories to wear as long as they’d like. When they’re done with the items, they simply send them back with the option to purchase pieces they love for 20-50 percent off the retail price.
“We’re hearing from women that they want the freedom of more options in their wardrobe, without spending tons of money and constantly buying new clothes,” said Rakesh Tondon, CEO and Co-Founder, LE TOTE. Brett Northart, President and Co-Founder, LE TOTE adds, “With massive amounts of clothing going to waste every year, we’re excited to use this funding to fundamentally change the way people shop and open up a new world of choices for women to supplement their existing wardrobe in a sustainable, affordable way.”
LE TOTE’s technology platform and proprietary fit algorithm, powered by a recommendation engine using machine learning and a strong customer feedback loop, facilitated shipments of more than $15 million worth of inventory to LE TOTE customers in 2014; the company expects that to grow to $75 million in 2015.
“We’re excited to be a part of a quickly growing team that is infectiously changing how consumers look at shopping,” said Mike Kwatinetz, Founding General Partner, Azure Capital Partners. “More importantly, the technology and algorithms LE TOTE uses are powering this discovery tool into a fashion power house that will ultimately provide brands with previously unavailable data behind their customers and product. This will forever influence the way the industry markets and merchandises their brands.”
For more information about LE TOTE, please visit www.letote.com.
About LE TOTE
San Francisco-based LE TOTE was founded in 2012 by Brett Northart and Rakesh Tondon, who aimed to replicate the offline behavior of swapping and sharing clothes via a national, online service. The subscription-based fashion service works with more than 80 brands including House of Harlow, Sam Edelman, Tahari, Splendid, Sanctuary, BCBG and French Connection, allowing customers to borrow and wear unlimited clothing and accessories for $49/month. Each shipment includes a personalized selection of three pieces of clothing and two accessories, curated using LE TOTE’s proprietary fit algorithm and recommendation engine. Customers keep their pieces as long as they’d like, and ship back when they’re ready for their next delivery, with an option to purchase what they love for 20-50 percent off of retail price. The Y Combinator backed company has raised $12.5 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Azure Capital Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Simon Venture Group, AITV, Epic Ventures, Arsenal Venture Partners and Funders Club. For more information, visit http://www.letote.com/static/press.