Takeshi Hirano
Japan’s Infinity Ventures Partners LLP (IVP) and Infinity e.ventures Asia Fund III L.P. (e.ventures) announced last week that it has invested in Farfetch Japan, the Tokyo-based joint venture by UK-founded global fashion e-commerce company Farfetch and IVP. Farfetch Japan has fundraised 720 million yen ($6 million) from IVP, e.ventures, Farfetch headquarters and other VC firms.
Coinciding with the funding, the company appointed IVP’s Hirofumi Ono as an interim CEO as well as Akio Tanaka as a managing director. Ono and Tanaka are co-founders and managing directors of IVP. Infinity e.ventures Asia Fund was formed in November, and this is the first investment from the fund.
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Farfetch is a global community of over 300 fashion boutiques and provides them with an access to a marketplace where they can buy fashion items handpicked by Farfetch’s buyers from around the world. Farfetch has 120,000 listed items from 2,500 brands, which can be shipped to 170 cities in 29 countries 180 countries. While many of the items are shipped from European countries (especially Italy) to the US, demand from Asia has been increasing since 2013.
Their shipping method is unique in that boutiques will pack items in a box of their own design then ship it to users instead of shipping from Farfetch’s warehouse, aiming to give users an experience as if they had visited and bought items at the boutique’s storefront. Some users buy items totaling at over $400,000 a year using the e-commerce platform.
With offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles, Farfetch has fundraised $66 million since its launch in 2008. Their Japanese version was launched in August 2014, and revenue has reached several million US dollars. Tokyo-based Restir joined the Japanese edition as the first boutique from the Japanese market, and the company aims to acquire 10 to 15 boutiques by the end of 2015.
Masaru Ikeda
