Retail group Walmart has agreed to acquire US-based clothing brand Eloquii for $100m, enabling cosmetics distributor Grace Beauty to exit, Recode reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the deal.
Eloquii was formed by retail group The Limited as a plus-size fashion brand in 2011. It was discontinued within 18 months but was subsequently bought by several employees who relaunched it as a new business in 2014.
The company designs and produces plus-size clothes for women and sells them through its online platform as well as its own brick-and-mortar stores and several third-party online platforms.
The deal follows $42m of funding raised by Eloquii, according to Recode, though it appears to have only publicly revealed details of its $6m series A and $15m series B rounds.
Greycroft had led the 2014 series A round, investing together with Daher Capital, Bassett Investment Group, Western Technology Investment, Female Founders Fund and assorted angel investors.
Acton Capital Partners led the series B round in 2016, with participation from Wildcat Capital Management, Blue Sky Venture Capital, Greycroft Partners, Daher Capital and Female Founders Fund.
Grace Beauty has not disclosed when it invested in Eloquii, but its corporate venturing unit, Grace Beauty Capital, lists it as a portfolio company.
Eloquii CEO Mariah Chase and the rest of its 100-strong team will join Walmart’s e-commerce division and report to head of digital consumer brands Andy Dunn, who sold his menswear fashion brand Bonobos to Walmart for $310m in June 2017.
Walmart has also acquired fellow e-commerce fashion brands Bonobos, Moosejaw and Shoes.com in the past two years.
