Navabi, a Germany-based online retailer of fashion for “plus-sized women” (sizes 14 to 30), has raised €10m ($13.6m) funding led by venture capital firm Index Ventures, with participation from existing investors, venture capital firm Seventure Partners and DuMont Venture, a digital-media-focused subsidiary of Germany-based media corporation M.DuMont Schauberg.
Previously, Navabi raised $2.8m funding in December 2012 from Seventure Partners and DuMont Venture, and $850,000 seed funding from DuMont Venture in August 2010.
The funding will be used to further international growth and to explore other fashion categories in addition to premium apparel.
Dominique Vidal, Index partner, said: “We are excited to partner with navabi. They are very well positioned to becoming the leader in this large underserved market, building an inspirational and aspirational brand in Europe and beyond.”
Bahman Nedaei, Navabi’s co-founder and co-Chief Executive Officer, said: “There’s a huge gap between supply and demand in the market of premium designer apparel for women sized 16 plus.”
Navabi was co-founded in Germany by Zohejr Dehnadi and Bahman Nedaei in 2009: 30% of its €30 million revenue comes from the UK and the US, and turnover is more than doubling year on year. Navabi points out that market research from Mintel shows that an estimated 50+% of the female population in Europe is wearing plus-sized clothing, that the plus-sized market is growing faster than traditional apparel sales, and that the UK market alone is expected to grow to nearly £6bn by 2015, up from £3.81bn in 2008.