Dive Brief:

• Fashion e-commerce startup Lyst said Thursday that it has raised $40 million in a Series C investment round from LVMH’s controlling investor Groupe Arnault, Accel Partners, Balderton Capital (Yoox Net-A-Porter Group), 14W, DFJ, and an unnamed New York hedge fund. The investment significantly boosts Lyst’s funding to $60 million since its founding four years ago.

• London-based Lyst features a universal cart on its site that allows shoppers to check out from multiple retailers in a single, unified checkout. The company has seen growth of $40 million in total sales a year ago to $150 million today, according to a press release.

• Lyst will leverage the capital to pursue global growth and to expand its teams in London and New York, the company said.

Dive Insight:

Lyst, like Farfetched (also out of London) and others, aggregates retailers for customers, making it easy to browse and compare prices. But Lyst also enables customers to buy through a single cart. The app has a huge stable of retailers and brands and is focused (for now anyway) on fashion. 

The app maximizes algorithms to connect with customers based on past purchases and to show customers what’s available in stock from where. The company is also working with PayPal to dabble with physical stores too.

It’s that universal cart that Lyst CEO and co-founder Chris Morton says makes shopping so seamless and has sales conversions for participating retailers to climb fivefold. 

“This is an exciting time in our space and we are very proud to be at the centre of it,” Morton said in a statement. “Our model has grown exponentially in the USA and UK, and this round of funding allows us to take Lyst to fashion consumers around the world. We are already seeing a higher conversion by as much as five times through our universal cart - its widespread adoption by the industry’s leading brands and stores is a testament to the unique platform we have built and the volumes of sales it is generating.”