Category: e-commerce

Nice Laundry, a Kickstarter project that ended on April 15, 2013, officially launched its e-commerce site on Monday (Aug 12, 2013). Nice Laundry raised $120K from 2k backers on Kickstarter. The project set a Kickstarter record for a fashion project by gaining 279 backers in the first day.

Nice Laundry is a new men’s socks company that aims to decommoditize the sock buying experience. The company offers “NICE LAUNDRY” branded socks in packs of six, and each pack has a different theme (e.g. Chief, Exec, Ladies Man). Nice Laundry also offers a $99 sock drawer makeover that includes 18 pairs of socks (3 sets of 6). Similar to other recent e-commerce startups, Nice Laundry has an altruistic side – they will pay the postage cost for you to ship your old socks to their chosen sock recycling company.

Nice Laundry was founded by two LivingSocial alums: Ricky Choi and Phil Moldavski. Learn more about their story here.

I just purchased my first pack of six. We’ll see how long it takes for them to cross the pond to London.

To learn more about the sock revolution, check out Modern Fellows post: Where to Buy the Best Socks Online, Part 1: Power Socks.

Back in July I released the first edition of My Top 10 List of E-commerce Startups in LA. A lot has changed since July, and below is an update to my list.

Startups based on the subscription model have slipped down the list – despite the massive amounts they have raised – in favor of startups with proven business models (e.g. NastyGal). There have been several articles documenting some of the struggles of the subscription model. Most notably Brian O’Malley’s article in AllThingsD.

Notably, the below startups have raised over $350M. See the chart at the bottom of this post for additional key facts about these startups.

1. Nasty Gal – Nasty Gal is a global online destination for both new and vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories.
2. The Honest Company – The Honest Company is a consumer products company that delivers non-toxic, eco-friendly diapers and biodegradable wipes, organic bath/skin care and green cleaning products. Co-Founded by Jessica Alba.
3. Beachmint – BeachMint is a social commerce company specializing in celebrity-curated direct-to-consumer products.
4. JustFab – JustFab designs and sells its own brand of shoes, jewelry and handbags, and charges subscribers a flat $39.95 for each item.
5. Shoedazzle – ShoeDazzle offers personalized shoe, handbag and accessory recommendations chosen by a team of A-list stylists, including co-founder Kim Kardashian.
6. Little Black Bag – Social shopping and trading for designer handbags, jewelry, accessories, beauty and home decor
7. Dollar Shave Club – The Dollar Shave Club is a service that delivers fresh razors to your doorstep, monthly, for a fraction of the cost of the grocery-store equivalent.
8. Wittlebee – Wittlebee is a kids clothing club that creates custom packages for parents based on their child’s age, color preferences, geographic location and more.
9. Shop-Hers – Shop-Hers is a socially-inspired, user-driven, e-commerce, marketplace where women sell and buy premium label, pre-owned clothing and accessories
10. Daily Look – DailyLook sells one new fashion look every day for under $100.

Eleventh Man Award: TripleThread – Launched this week out of the Science Incubator in LA, TripleThread is a push-based commerce platform that allows retailers to offer stylist-selected, shop at home service to customers.

Twelfth Man Award: StyleHaul – StyleHaul is the largest original video content network on YouTube for fashion and beauty. Not quite e-commerce but relevant and interesting.

Key Facts:

Returning to my list of the Top 10 E-Commerce Startups in LA, DailyLook is ranked #6.

DailyLook is a flash sales site that sells one new look each day, and the look remains available for 36 hours. Meaning that on any day you can shop up to 3 different looks. Customers can purchase the entire outfit or select pieces. The entire outfits retail for $100 or less.

DailyLook’s approach to flash sales allows it to change the focus from steep discounts to fashion and personal curation.

DailyLook was founded by Brian Ree (CEO), Michael Kim (CMO), and Eric Marston (CTO). Brian Ree was previously the Founder of PokerLetter, the largest poker strategy newsletter in the world, which was acquired by FullTiltPoker in 2007. The company has gained 250K members since launching in October of 2011, and recently raised an undisclosed seed round.

Key Points:

• Location: Los Angeles, CA
• Founded: June, 2011
• Launched: October 2011
• Initial Venture Funding: Undisclosed
• Total Amt Raised: Undisclosed
• Current Investors: Undisclosed

I’ll be sure to update the above funding stats once the company goes public with this information.

Wittlebee is number seven on My Top Ten List of E-commerce Startups in LA. Wittlebee is a subscription commerce clothing retailer that sells clothes for kids six and younger.

Like most subscription services, Wittlebee has you take a quick survey when you sign up, and this survey is then used to determine the size and style of the clothes you will receive. A Wittlebee subscription costs $39.99 per month and can be cancelled at any time. Each subscription includes one monthly box of six clothing items that are said to retail for approximately $100. I actually tested the service a couple months ago and enjoyed the experience. I am sure the experience is even better now that they’re an additional two months into their development cycle. Check out some pictures from my test below.

Wittlebee was founded by Sean Percival, ex-VP of Online Marketing for Myspace.

Wittlebee, like Dollar Shave Club (#8 on my list), was spun out of the Science incubator in Los Angeles. Wittlebee raised a $2.5Mil seed round in March 2012 from Rincon, SoftTech, Google Ventures, and others.

Key Points:

• Location: Santa Monica, CA
• Founded: January 2012
• Launched: February 2012
• Initial Venture Funding: March 2012
• Total Amt Raised: ~$2.5Mil
• Current Investors: Rincon, SoftTech, Google Ventures, Matt Coffin, CrossLink, and Morado

Pictures from test:

The Dollar Shave Club is the eighth startup on My Top Ten List of E-commerce Startups in LA. The Dollar Shave Club is the first, and one of the only, men’s e-commerce sites to be featured on my list.

Dollar Shave Club offers a monthly subscription service for men’s razors. The company offers three types of razors: The Executive ($9/month), The 4x ($6/month), and The Humble Twin ($1/month).

The company was started out of the founders’ frustration of paying too much for razors and the hassle that resulted from forgetting to pick up razors when at the grocery store. It was also founded at the perfect time as the subscription model had been gaining steam across all e-commerce categories. The Dollar Shave Club doesn’t manufacture or design its own razor blades, it instead  buys them in bulk from “white-label” manufacturers. At this point, the main reason to use Dollar Shave Club is for its value and convenience, but I imagine they are building a much bigger brand around men’s personal care supplies.

The Dollar Shave Club has done a fantastic job marketing its service. The company is best known for the viral video they released at their launch. The video has since received 5.8Mil views on YouTube and has been recognized as a benchmark for viral marketing. Check out the video below:

The company was launched out of the Science incubator in Los Angeles. The founding team consists of Michael Dubin, ex-Sports Illustrated – Digital Marketing Director, and Mark Levine.

Dollar Shave Club has raised ~$1Mil from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and a few angels.

Key Points:

• Location: Santa Monica, CA
• Founded: January 2011
• Launched: March 2012
• Initial Venture Funding: March 2012
• Total Amt Raised: ~$1Mil
• Current Investors: Kleiner, Andreessen Horowitz, Forerunner, Shasta, and others