Department store chain Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) agreed yesterday to acquire US-based e-commerce company Gilt Groupe for $250m, providing an exit to telecommunications and internet company SoftBank.
The deal came less than five years after Gilt raised $138m at a $1bn valuation, in a round in which SoftBank invested $62.5m.
Founded in 2007, Gilt was one of the first flash sales companies to launch in the US, specialising in fashion. It currently has more than nine million members, and more than half of its transactions take place on mobile.
Reports in 2013 and 2014 suggested it would look to go public but the consistent growth, profitability and market conditions Gilt spokeswoman Jennifer Miller told Re/code early last year would be required for an initial public offering not seem to have coincided.
Gilt had raised more than $290m in funding, most recently securing $50m in a February 2015 round led by growth equity firm General Atlantic.
The $138m round in 2011 also included General Atlantic, Matrix Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth, Pinnacle Ventures, TriplePoint Capital and Eastward Capital.
Jerry Storch, chief executive of HBC, said: “With this transaction we are further accelerating both HBC’s all-channel offering and Gilt’s growth. We plan to continue to foster Gilt’s culture of innovation, which has helped create a strong brand with a loyal and devoted millennial following.
“Adding Gilt to our rapidly growing digital business is very exciting and we see tremendous potential to enhance our mobile and personalization strategies by leveraging Gilt’s advanced capabilities.”