DTC’s Daily Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer brands. In today’s edition: Brideside raise USD$7m; Duolingo becomes unicorn; and MetLife acquire PetFirst. 

Brideside raise USD$7m

To make bridesmaid dress shopping a less frustrating and itchy process, Chicago-based Brideside has raised USD$7m, led by Beringea, with participation from Sawdust Ventures and others. The upstart combines digital styling and online shopping for brides and their bridal parties. For users that still want a real-life experience, Brideside also has brick-and-mortar stores in Charlotte, Boston, Chicago, and New York. It also offers a try-at-home option.

According to a press release, the company’s total equity funding to date is $13.2 million, and this new capital will be used to build out more showrooms, and help it start selling actual bridal dresses, too. It also recently introduced Brideside-specific labels, which was designed by an in-house team that used “nearly 10M customer data points collected from the brand’s customers,” according to a press release.

The startup, which was founded in 2014 by Nicole Staple and Sonali Lamba, is part of a growing number of companies incorporating technology into the wedding-planning process. For example, San Francisco’s Riya Collective is a startup that offers high-end South Asian dresses and outfits for all members of the bridal party. 

Duolingo becomes unicorn

Duolingo has raised USD$30m in a new round of funding, bringing it to a USD$1.5bn valuation and making it Pittsburgh’s first tech startup to reach unicorn status, according to the company.

The language-learning company, which was founded in 2011, landed the money in a Series F funding round led by CapitalG.

The new round of funding will be used for research and development, along with hiring more employees, according to a statement. Duolingo has grown from 95 employees in July 2017 to 200 now.

The company has 30 million monthly active users, and credits its organic growth to word-of-mouth. Users can learn languages including French, Korean, Navajo, Arabic and Hawaiian.

Duolingo last raised money in July 2017, when it landed a USD$25m Series E investment led by Drive Capital. The new round brings the company’s total funding to USD$138m, and it counts Kleiner Perkins and New Enterprise Associates as investors.

MetLife acquire PetFirst

MetLife has acquired US pet health insurance disruptor, PetFirst. Founded in 2004, PetFirst currently administers insurance coverage on more than 40,000 pets. PetFirst currently distributes its pet insurance products through animal welfare agencies, direct-to-consumer channels and employers.

The acquisition will leverage MetLife’s position as a market leader in U.S. group benefits by enabling the company to offer a new benefit that is growing in popularity. Since 2014, the annual growth rate for the pet insurance industry has been more than 20%.

The pet insurance market is under-penetrated and fast-growing. The roughly 85 million families that own pets in the United States spend USD$18bn annually on veterinary care, yet, as of 2018, less than 2% of pets were insured. Following the acquisition, PetFirst will continue to market pet insurance through animal welfare societies and its direct-to-consumer channel. Beginning in the summer of 2020, MetLife will offer this pet insurance to employers through its leading group benefits distribution channel, reaching approximately 41 million employees and dependents across the U.S.

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