DRESSX, a mission-driven digital fashion company disrupting a $1.3 trillion apparel industry, announced today an additional raise of funds that in total brings a company to 3.3 MLN of venture funding.
After the company announced its first priced round co-led by The Artemis Fund and Alpha Edison in July of 2021, DRESSX closed an additional investment round from strategic partners from fashion, tech and blockchain industries.
The money raised by the company will help it to scale its vision to make digital clothing accessible to consumers across multiple channels and multiverses. Specifically the proceeds will be used to promote the DRESSX mobile app, build its NFT marketplace, and partner with social media, gaming, and other virtual platforms to bring digital fashion to the metaverse.
“We are thrilled to invest in DRESSX. It is a revolutionary startup, and we are convinced that it will not only create a new movement in the fashion industry but will play a great role in making the world more sustainable.”– said Jaroslawa Z. Johnson, President and CEO of Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), the fund behind U.Ventures, one of the new investors who participated in the DRESSX current funding round.
U.Ventures is a venture capital fund established by WNISEF in 2017 to support the best startup talent in Ukraine and Moldova. U.Ventures investments, alongside the rest of WNISEF portfolio, is managed by Horizon Capital, a leading regional growth equity firm with over $1.1 billion in assets under management. Prior investments of U.Ventures include 3DLOOK, Petcube, Turnkey Lender, Rallyware while the portfolio of Horizon Capital includes Ajax Systems, airSlate, Creatio, Genesis (founding company of BetterMe, Headway, Jiji, etc), Intellias, Jooble, Liki24, MakeUp, Rozetka, EVO, Tinkoff Bank (exited), Ciklum (exited). U.Ventures has a dual mission, and beyond targeting attractive returns, the fund aims to have a positive societal impact on the region, but supporting the entrepreneurial and engineering culture in Ukraine and Moldova.
DRESSX partners with designers and brands to sell their digital products. Since its launch in August 2020, DRESSX has become the biggest platform for digital-only fashion clothes, with more than 100 designers on board and thousands of digital items available for purchase on the website. In the recent few months, DRESSX announced the launch of their first AR mobile app with an in-real-time try-on feature, collaborations with FARFETCH and Crypto.com. Recently DRESSX also became a carbon-neutral company (in partnership with Flow Carbon).
“DRESSX has accomplished a tremendous amount in the past few months. Their collaboration with Farfetch has meaningfully contributed to the opening of the world stage for the digital fashion industry. Their partnership with Crypto.com provides another medium to bring awareness to sustainable e-commerce. It's not a surprise that recently Forbes featured DRESSX as the company “reinventing multi-brand fashion consumption” and alleviating the climate impact related to “purchase, Instagram, return."
Daria and Natalia truly understand fashion tech, its role in the metaverse, and the needs, now and in the future, of their customers. Their industry experience and passion has already attracted the attention of a multitude of partners, and the virtual world clearly has limitless possibilities for fashion and is destined to reduce our environmental footprint.” - Leslie Goldman, General Partner and Co-Founder, The Artemis Fund, DRESSX Board member.
“As our first digital fashion partner, DRESSX’s technology has opened up a world of possibility for us and our collectors,” said Crypto.com Executive Vice President and Global Head of NFT Joe Conyers III. “Through AR, DRESSX is able to provide a digital experience that is still very real and tangible — in a way that reshapes our perception of what ‘reality’ actually is. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what we can do together, and I’m very excited for what the future holds.”
“We are proud to partner with The Artemis Fund, Alpha Edison and all our investors to scale the company. Extremely happy with the fact that we received an additional follow-up investment from U.Ventures and other strategic investors from various industries. Digital fashion industry is moving fast and it’s great to see that more and more stakeholders believe in this new domain that is already changing the fashion industry at a scale. Every day, we are getting closer to our aim of selling 1 billion digital fashion items” - CEO and co-founder of DRESSX Daria Shapovalova.
DRESSX is a female-led, female-founded company. The core team of the start-up is based in Los Angeles. All founding team members have vast experience in fashion (co-founders Daria and Natalia worked together on a number of successful fashion companies in Europe) and in tech - Head of Product at DRESSX Julie Krasnienko led marketing at Looksery (acquired by Snap Inc. in 2015).
“Creative economy in general and digital goods in particular are the driving forces for the development of various markets. It is empowering for the communities and cultures and the most innovative domain for fashion. For creators DRESSX is a tool to produce and distribute their digital goods, for brands it became a gateway to the new digital economy; for consumers, DRESSX is a tool to build the infinite and most sustainable personal closet. Digital fashion is a visual language tool for communicating and creating bonds online. DRESSX provides the utility of digital wearables to everyone using augmented reality, machine learning and blockchain.” - COO and co-founder of DRESSX Natalia Modenova.
Millennials and Gen Z-ers are growing increasingly concerned with the social and environmental impact of the traditional fashion industry. On the other hand, digital clothes generate almost zero waste, carbon footprints, and chemicals during their production. Working with traditional and 3D fashion designers, DRESSX offers virtual looks that can be exclusively worn on photos and videos as a substitute for buying physical clothes.
Learn more about how DressX is leading the research on the environmental impact of digital vs. traditional fashion.
