Online Boutique Jane Raises $40M Series A

Online marketplace Jane has raised a $40 million Series A from Tritium Partners, the company announced Tuesday.

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Jane’s boutique marketplace allows small business owners to sell clothing, accessories, shoes and home decor to buyers across the country. The company has more than 3,000 sellers on its platform.

Lehi, Utah-based Jane’s fundraise isn’t a typical Series A. Most Series A raises are for small startups who are just finding their footing, whereas Jane was founded in 2011 and is expected to generate $250 million in sales this year.

“It was just our time to tell our story and get out there,” CEO Taleeb Noormohamed said in an interview with Crunchbase News, noting that the round wasn’t exactly a private-equity or venture capital round. The company has seen its growth accelerate too, growing 82 percent in the first half of the year.

Noormohamed was brought on as Jane’s new CEO just over a year ago, and part of his job was to make sure that Jane became a household name. With that in mind, the company began to gear up for growth, and raised the $40 million to fuel it. The Series A is Jane’s first outside financing since it was founded.

Outside investors have looked to invest in Jane in years past, but ultimately the company went with Tritium because of the firm’s experience with marketplaces and the relationships it’s built. Tritium also invested in Vrbo, RetailMeNot and HomeAway, where Noormohamed previously worked.

“We see significant potential for Jane in a market where consumers are rallying behind small businesses and looking for more personalized experiences,” Tritium Partners managing partner Matt Bowman said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Jane to further enhance their category offerings, geographic reach, and marketplace features.”

With the new funding, the company plans to expand into new categories, grow into international markets such as Canada, and increase its presence in areas of the U.S. where it hasn’t focused on marketing. It’s also looking into luxury as a potential area for expansion.

Noormohamed said that Jane hasn’t spent a lot of time developing its brand meaningfully, so the company will be focusing on telling the story of the brand. And since the company has been around for a while, it has more of a story to tell.

“We are now able to say we have a point of view on fashion, we have a point of view on aesthetic, we have a point of view on look,” Noormohamed said.

Illustration Credit: Li-Anne Dias