DTC’s Daily Digest brings you the latest news from the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer brands. In today’s edition: Atoms raises to invest in physical spaces; Taylor & Hart completes landmark funding; and BauBax raises USD$1m. 

Atoms raises to invest in physical spaces

Atoms, the direct-to-consumer footwear brand that allows you to purchase shoes in quarter sizes for each foot, has raised USD$8.1m (£6.7m). 

The company plans to use the funding to invest in further development of its shoes, and to expand its retail and marketing presence. To date, the company has been selling directly to consumers in the U.S. via its website — which at one point had a waiting list of nearly 40,000 people — and the idea will be to fold in other experiences, including selling in physical spaces in the future.

The round is being led by Initialized Capital, the investment firm started by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan, with other backers including Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and the rapper Chamillionaire.

Even before today’s achievement of closing a Series A, the startup has come a long way on a relative shoestring budget. With around USD$560,000 in seed funding, Atoms built a supply chain of companies that would make the materials and shoes that it wanted, and developed a gradual but strong marketing pipeline with influential people in tech, fashion and design.

Taylor & Hart completes landmark funding

London-based e-jeweller Taylor & Hart has completed a landmark £3.6 million funding round, which the firm plans to use to drive forward it global expansion plan. The funding round was led by Active Partners. 

Active Partners is renowned for investing in customer-centric businesses; backing founder-led teams running brands that demonstrate exceptional levels of consumer engagement. Examples of these include professional womenswear house, The Fold, spectacles maker, Cubitts and healthy fast food chain, Leon. 

The company said that 2018 and 2019 have been extremely successful years. Since the previous funding round, the business has more than doubled its monthly revenue, grown to a team of 40 across four countries, and now delivers to customers in over 20 countries. 

More significantly, to continue to ensure customers have the best jewellery experience possible, the design team has doubled and Taylor & Hart will soon announce the opening of a brand-new showroom. 

Taylor & Hart’s founder, Nikolay Piriankov, was a guest on the DTC Podcast in March 2019, where he spoke about how Taylor & Hart were using a direct-to-consumer business model to disrupt the jewellery industry by cutting out the middle man. 

BauBax raises USD$1m

BauBax has raised USD$1m (£830k) through crowdfunders on Kickstarter. The travel apparel company that had already raised more than USD$19m for its travel apparel via crowdfunding now has another million-dollar campaign in-progress for its lightweight, water/stain resistant, comfortable and cool travel shoes.

BauBax Co-Founder Hiral Sanghavi says: “we’re very grateful for the response our campaign has received from thousands of loyal backers on Kickstarter who have helped us surpass the million-dollar milestone once again."

The success of BauBax Travel Shoes comes on the heels of crowdfunding success earlier this year with BauBax Travel Pants, which raised more than USD$3.2m (£2.7m) to become the most-funded pants in crowdfunding history. When combined with the USD$16m (£13m) received for its record-breaking travel jackets, BauBax has raised more than USD$20m (£17m) for its travel products through crowdfunding.

Travel shoes from BauBax are available for men and women in three styles – dressy, loungy and breezy. Backers receive free shipping worldwide if they order two pairs or more.

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