US-based advanced shoelace developer Hickies received $10m on Friday from investors including the Wizard Martins family, who control Sforza Holding, the company which owns apparel producers Topper Brazil and Rainha.
The round also featured an undisclosed strategic investor described by Hickies as “one of the top three global footwear brands,” and investment fund Endeavor Catalyst. The footwear brand is almost certainly existing investor Adidas.
Hickies aims to replace traditional shoelaces with an adaptive modular lacing system where each strap expands and contracts independently in response to the movement of a user’s foot. It has shipped more than 2 million packs since they were launched in 2012.
The funding will go to developing and launching new products, forming brand collaborations and expanding into new global markets. Hickies, which distributes its products to more than 40 countries, will begin selling them in Brazil in 2017 through partnerships with Topper Brazil and Rainha.
The round comes after Hickies secured $4.2m in a 2014 round led by Collaborative Fund that included Hydra Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Adidas. It had raised a total of $6.2m from backers also including venture capital firm Dila Capital, according to a report in Forbes.
– Image courtesy of Hickies, Inc.