Written by Alex Bredeen
Cult Mia today announced a new Seed funding round of £2,500,000. This round of funding was led by Fuel Ventures with participation from: Womankind Ventures, David Wertheimer (the renowned luxury fashion investor funding the new era of luxury), and Morgan Stanley (The Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab selected Cult Mia as one of the nine EMEA businesses for this year’s cohort from a global pool of more than 7,900 businesses).
What is Cult Mia?
London-based Cult Mia is the online fashion marketplace building the leading platform for sustainable and conscious luxury fashion. Founded in October 2019 by female entrepreneur Nina Briance, Cult Mia has developed an unmatched marketplace model over the course of its first four years of business. With an unparalleled gross margin in the top 1 percentile in the industry, a return rate 16% below the industry average and a customer acquisition cost 31% more efficient than peers, Cult Mia has laid the foundations to supercharge its growth.
Cult Mia is differentiated both in business model and in positioning: the platform is unique in catering to the modern shoppers’ expectations and values. High-quality pieces from new fashion brands at accessible luxury price points: we can see shoppers are trading in the high luxury price points for items that are unique and exclusive on Cult Mia. All of the current consumer statistics also indicate that luxury fashion customers want to shop ethically from sustainable brands. However, it’s too challenging and time consuming to find these types of brands, especially when it comes to vetting the values that underpin them. The historically dominant online luxury players have been slow to respond to this changing consumer behaviour. This has left space for Cult Mia to become the go-to destination for unique and sustainable luxury shopping. The platform has secured the leading, exclusive supply of values-driven brands. More than 40% of the products listed on the platform can only be found on Cult Mia, with 100+ brands currently on the waiting list to join, and a 95% brand retention rate since inception.
Why Now?
“We’re incredibly excited to have received this investment. I believe we’ve found the leading strategic partners in our space: deep marketplace scaling expertise, unique financial sponsorship and support from the most reputable institution, and backing from fashion royalty. I’m humbled by this investor line-up and truly energised for the next stages of Cult Mia's growth journey.” - Nina Briance, Founder and CEO.
"Cult Mia's sector is one we have been looking at for several months, and we've passed on a selection of opportunities where we felt the unit economics were not strong enough or that there was not enough of a USP compared to the existing players. Cult Mia's long term vision and focus on long-term relationships, both with the platform's brands and customers, excites us and speaks to our experience working with marketplaces previously. We've watched such significant growth in the luxury marketplace space, but have never really been keen to involve ourselves. Why? Because the majority of companies we've seen have had poor margins and the same stock as the major players. We've never been convinced that's a space for us. We really feel like what Cult Mia is building allows us to enter this space with real confidence." - Mark Pearson, Founder & Managing Partner at Fuel Ventures
“We have been impressed by Cult Mia’s attractive platform, providing a high-quality experience to customers from over 42 countries. Cult Mia has built an impressive footprint of over 320 independent brands and partnered with eminent fashion authorities in its first few years. Nina and the team bring a dynamic, values-driven approach to the business and have grown Cult Mia impressively since its founding in 2019.” - Sanghamitra Karra, Managing Director and EMEA Head of the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Group.
"We are delighted to have selected Cult Mia as the first investment made by Womankind Ventures. Nina and Cult Mia embody the exact level of robustness we look for; a perfect blend of experience and expertise in the founder expressed in a well designed and executed, high-performing business. Cult Mia is primed for explosive growth and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey." - Andrea Sommer, Co-Founder and Investment Lead, Womankind Ventures.
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