US-based Fancy, an American Express-backed e-commerce company that allows its users to curate its content, is looking to raise investment at a valuation of up to $1.2bn, Bloomberg has reported.
Founded in 2009, Fancy allows customers to curate items on its online store by ‘fancying’ them, which in turn promotes those items to other users of the site, who can then purchase them.
Fancy has raised $78m in funding to date, with payment services firm American Express investing in a $60m series C round in 2013 alongside actor Will Smith, Access Industries founder Len Blavatnik, and two other private investors, Richard C Perry and David Perry.
The first tranche of the series C round in July valued Fancy at $600m.
Other past investors include luxury, sports and lifestyle conglomerate Kering, which invested $10m in Fancy in 2011, venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners, merchant bank Allen & Company, and several other private investors including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and hedge fund manager Jim Palotta.
The investment is being advised by Morgan Stanley. Neither Fancy nor Morgan Stanley have commented upon the story.