Accel Partners is investing EUR37m in Showroomprive.com, a members’ only fashion e-commerce site which sells designer brands at discount prices.
Showroomprive.com was founded in France but entered the Spanish market this year.
The investment is part of a wider range of investments Accel is making in the area of social commerce – where retailers use the social graph in some way to create new e-commerce models. Other investments in this space include Groupon, ModCloth, and KupiVIP (the Russian website).
The deal was led by Harry Nelis and Ryan Sweeney, both of whom will be joining Showroomprive’s board.
The investment will allow Showroomprive.com to make new investments, in particular in a warehouse to increase capacity and products for its members, a communications plan and a study of external growth opportunities through potential acquisitions of complementary companies.
“We are very pleased and proud of Accel Partners’ arrival in our capital. It is a leading player, recognised for its expertise in the internet and new technologies sectors. They participated in Facebook’s launch. These strengths convinced us that we were taking the right decision in opening our capital to them,” says Thierry Petit, co-founder of Showroomprive.com.
"Showroomprive has pinpointed a set of market conditions in France which ideally suit its business. There’s already a culture of looking for deals online and shopping socially, and the infrastructure in France ensures that goods are delivered quickly. The Showroomprive team is exceptionally strong and has built a disruptive business model and an innovative e-commerce platform which takes advantage of all these attributes through the social internet,” adds Nelis.
