17 Dec 2010, Posted by admin in Fashion,Fashion News, 0 Comments

bonobos bolsters its booty-boosting pant business with $18.5 million in funding

Bonobos announced that it has secured $18.5 million in a round of Series C financing from Lightspeed Venture Partners (LivingSocial, ShoeDazzle) and Accel Partners (Facebook, Etsy, Modcloth, Groupon) and the addition of two new board members–Jeremy Kiew of Lightspeed and Sameer Gandhi of Accel. Founded only three years ago, co-founder and CEO Andy Dunn started with little more than a suitcase of awesome-fitting pants and a dream to revolutionize men’s fashion.

Since then, he’s grown the company at an impressive rate, generating over $1.3 million in sales last month alone (with a $15MM annual run rate), 32,000 loyal customers, and a staff of 25 by relying primarily on online advertising and word-of-mouth. More importantly, he has discovered the secret sauce to getting men to love shopping (How? Read 20 questions with Dunn here.)

With the rollout of a new line of wool Italian suits, Bonoboys (a junior clothing line for boys) and additional category extensions, Bonobos is taking the next steps to support its ramp up in growth. The company plans to hire more ninjas (Bonobos code for customer service reps), add a sales and marketing team and build a more diverse customer acquisition tool through advertising.

“In the past six months, we have tripled the business by focusing everyday on what got us started: fit and service. With this investment, we’ll continue to build out global customer base for many years to come,” says Dunn. J. Crew better watch its back, there’s a new power player on the block.

–Jennifer Sung