Hong Kong-based online clothing retailer Grana has secured an extra US$3.5 million in seed funding.
This brings total funding to date to $6 million, with an additional Series A funding pending. The lead investor is Golden Gate Ventures, with MindWorks Ventures and Bluebell Group also involved.
Grana has just launched in the US market, and the extra funding will help the brand continue its international growth. The company offers clothing made from international fabrics including Chinese cotton twill and silk, French poplin, Irish linen, Italian merino wool, Japanese chambray and denim, Mongolian cashmere and Peruvian cotton. Designing in-house, Grana works directly with fabric mills to ensure the best possible prices.
In its beta launch in March last year it sold 2000 Peruvian Pima cotton T-shirts in three weeks, shipping to eight countries. Month-over-month sales have been increasing by 40 per cent since the company launched in October 2014.
As well as helping Grana ship to new markets, the new funding will support its entry to the China and US markets. The funds will also be critical to new product category launches such as leather goods, undergarments and activewear.
“The support is critical to our US expansion, a priority market that already represents 20 per cent of our global sales,” says CEO and co-founder Luke Grana, an Australian based in Hong Kong.
Grana opened a “fitting room” in San Francisco in December, and has also introduced the concept in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. These outlets are designed as showrooms rather than retail shops, offering interaction with Grana Cheetahs (customer service representatives) and the chance to explore the website.
“In a world where startups are disrupting established industries, Grana is disrupting how to build a global brand with bottom-up marketing from their biggest fans, city by city,” says Golden Gate Ventures managing partner Vinnie Lauria.
Grana will also use the new funding to build its global team. It now has more than 40 employees in Hong Kong, and has just added team members in San Francisco.
