Fashion Start-Up Moda Operandi Grabs $60M In Funding

Moda Operandi has raised a $60 million round led by Fidelity Investments to make high fashion more high tech and convenient for a younger client base and accessible to an emerging jet set in global markets lacking in high-end retailers.

“With this investment, we’ll actually be going after clients now,” said Moda Operandi Chief Executive Deborah Nicodemus.

Moda was co-founded in 2010 by Lauren Santo Domingo and built early partnerships with Alexander Wang and Valentino.  Today the company has linked up with with more than 250 high-end designers for both boutiques and trunk shows.

The trunk shows allow buyers a sneak peek and crack at purchasing items from a designer’s collection before they go on sale the next season at physical retail locations.  By putting trunk shows online, Moda has taken what was once a very exclusive opportunity and turned it into a chance for the general public to shop.

In 2013 Moda expanded and created online boutiques. In-house stylists take data netted from those trunk show purchases and combine them with their internal fashion sense to create online shops full of shoes, handbags and other accessories designed to create a one-stop shopping location online to finish off a look.

What sets Moda apart, according to Nicodemus, is the fact that their entire collection is available for purchase within one hour of the show. With a 50 percent deposit on items, consumers can essentially pre-purchase their choices, which they will receive about five months later when the retail stores start seeing their orders stream in.

Moda increased its revenue 70 percent to more than $50 million in 2014, with an average order of around $2,000.