H&M Co:Lab, a corporate venturing subsidiary of fashion retailer H&M, has invested in UK-based men’s fashion e-commerce service Thread as part of a $22m series B round.
Venture capital firms Balderton Capital, Beringea, Forward Partners also contributed to the round, as did Maurice Helfgott, chairman of retail management firm Amery Capital, and Sebastian Picardo, former chief operating officer of luxury goods retailer Lane Crawford.
Founded in 2012, Thread combines the expertise of human stylists with machine learning technology to make individual style recommendations for its male customers while also sourcing the clothes for them to buy.
The platform has more than 1 million users and Thread has formed partnerships with brands including Hugo Boss, Levi’s and Ted Baker in the past year. Thread will use the series B proceeds for marketing, and to expand the size of its artificial intelligence team.
Kieran O’Neill, co-founder and chief executive of Thread, said: “More than ever, guys care about dressing well, which is why menswear is a growing market. But they face an overwhelming number of options on the high street and online.
“We are used to having digital services such as Uber, Netflix and Spotify simplify other aspects of our lives, and men are now turning to Thread as their go-to solution for dressing well. As our stylists and algorithms learn more about our customers, we have brought on a huge number of new brands to help each of our customers find the perfect clothes for them.”
The company has now raised $40m in total, including roughly $5.3m in a mid-2016 round led by Beringea that included Balderton Capital. The latter firm had led Thread’s $8m series A the year before, participating alongside angel investors including Picardo and Helfgott.
