Octopus Ventures heads up HURR seed funding round
Fashion rental marketplace, HURR, has raised $5.4 million in seed funding.
This was led by European VC firm, Octopus Ventures, which has backed other circular economy ventures, including peer-to-peer resale platform Depop (acquired by Etsy for $1.6 million), food sharing app OLIO, and toy subscription service Whirli.
The round also saw participation from D4 Ventures and Ascension, among others.
HURR launched in the UK during 2019 with a business model that comprises peer-to-peer fashion rentals, direct partnerships with more than 85 exclusive fashion partners, as well as a recently launched white label service, which powers rental for retailers such as Selfridges.
HURR also occupies a physical space in Selfridges London, and this year announced a partnership with Depop.
The $5.4 million of funding will support plans to rapidly expand its operations, investing in its proprietary technology, elevating its focus on community, and expanding its white label portfolio.
Victoria Prew, CEO and Founder, HURR, says: “I am absolutely convinced that the future of fashion is circular, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this accelerating consumer shift.”
“In the UK alone, customers spend £2.7 billion on outfits they wear just once while more than $400 billion of clothing is discarded across the globe each year - another shocking statistic.”
“As a Millennial, I’m part of a generation that loves shared ownership. We’ve all witnessed the rise of disruptive tech first businesses such as Airbnb and Uber and if we can rent our houses and cars, why not our wardrobes.”
She adds: “We are also delighted to welcome Octopus Ventures, D4, and Ascension on our journey. Their combined expertise in circular and building exceptional customer focused businesses will be tremendous assets as we work towards our vision of re-inventing ownership.”
Matt Chandler, Consumer Investor at Octopus Ventures, says: “HURR is perfectly placed to capitalise on the shift towards new models of ownership and spearhead the transition to a more climate friendly fashion industry.”
“By operating the critical logistics functions needed for rental, it is able to provide a full stack rental solution to existing brands, which in turn feeds the HURR platform with amazing breadth and depth of supply.”
“We see a huge opportunity for scale and are excited to leverage our experience working with Depop as we partner with Victoria and her team.”
