Bucking VC trends, Farfetch secures $110m, valuation rockets to $1.5b

Dive Brief:

High-end fashion curating platform Farfetch snagged $110 million in its latest funding round, vaulting the company's valuation to nearly $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reports. The startup also secured a $50 million credit line, according to TechCrunch.
The Series F round was led by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, and included Chinese venture firm IDG Capital Partners, Eurazeo SA and existing investor Vitruvian Partners.
Farfetch was founded in 2008. Its app and web platforms select high-end items from boutiques worldwide. The company, which operates in London, New York, Los Angeles, Porto and Sao Paulo, raised $86 million last March.

Dive Insight:

Farfetch's investors are shrugging off the fears of a tech bubble, demonstrating that upscale startups may have an advantage. While venture capital investment fell significantly in Q4 2015, dropping 30% to $27.2 billion according to venture capital research firm CB Insights, London-based Farfetch has marched on toward a whopping $1.5 billion valuation and a possible initial public offering, according to Bloomberg.

Farfetch is also been working on a white label platform solution, running online sales on ManoloBlahnik.com, for example, according to TechCrunch. That also enables smaller boutiques globally to sell online and offer a variety of delivery services without running those logistics themselves.

Business of Fashion reports that Farfetch increased its total transaction value to more than $500 million in 2015, up 70% over 2014 on the previous year; it takes an estimated 25% commission from its designer partners, placing estimated revenues around $125 million. Farfetch is not profitable.

Farfetch said the new funding will support its expansion in China and other Asia Pacific markets. “Asia, together, is 26% of our business—like one in every four sales we do,” Farfetch founder and CEO José Neves told Business of Fashion. “If you look at the partners we now welcome on board, like Temasek, which has a huge, huge influence in Southeast Asia and investments in all the major Asian internet players, and IDG Capital Partners—same thing—it’s definitely a strategic move. They know all the players there and it makes things easier for partnerships, for hiring, for insights."