Lesara announces € 15 m Series B investment from Northzone and Vorwerk Ventures

Berlin, September 9th, 2015 – Berlin-based online fashion and lifestyle retailer Lesara announces a € 15 m Series B financing round, led by one of Europe’s most successful venture capitalists Northzone, and co-investor Vorwerk Ventures. Existing shareholders such as Mangrove Capital also participated in this round. Lesara is aiming for more international growth in the short-term future and a deeper market penetration in already existing markets. In addition, the company will expand its product range which already comprises 50,000 products.

Lesara is currently one of the fastest developing online retailers in Europe, having grown to over 120 employees and double digit million Euros in revenues in its first year of operations.

The company is connecting factories in Asia directly with end consumers across Europe. Cross-border commerce and direct sourcing are two booming mega trends as Alibaba and more recently Wish.com have proven. In contrast to those, Lesara is not operating as a marketplace but as a retailer, rivaling fast fashion and discount offline retailers such as H&M or Zara.

“Owning the merchandise and managing the whole supply chain allows us to provide a consistent customer experience and achieve superb customer satisfaction. Whereas marketplaces struggle with delivery times of more than 60 days, fraud and questionable product qualities we can deliver a great selection of in-demand products – cheaper, faster and at better quality than anyone else” says founder and CEO Roman Kirsch.

Series B lead investor Northzone has has a strong track record of investments in leading companies such as Spotify, Klarna, Avito or Trustpilot and invests out of its latest $ 325 m fund.

Hans Otterling, General Partner at Northzone, comments: “Lesara combines two huge mega trends: Cross-border commerce and direct global sourcing from factories, cutting out middle men. Thanks to its technology Lesara discovers trending products quicker than other companies. With its offices in Asia Lesara manages to deliver trends to its customers in an unprecedented speed of days rather than months. Finally, we were amazed by the drive, sheer ambition and skill of the Founders and the whole management team. We are extremely happy to back a company that is going to shape the future of retail.”

Since starting the company in November 2013 Lesara expanded into 6 markets and delivered products to more than 500.000 customers in 2014.

CEO Kirsch says: “We had a fantastic last year: Revenues grew by 500% in H1 2015 compared to the previous year. We opened up offices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to be closer to our suppliers and increase the speed of bringing new merchandise onto our platform. On top we expanded into the Netherlands and Italy, new markets that have grown quickly. Together with our new and existing investors we are taking huge steps to execute on our vision of providing everyone, everywhere worldwide with access to amazing fashion and lifestyle products at affordable prices.”

About Lesara

Lesara is the international online retailer for affordable fashion and lifestyle products. The company was founded in Berlin in 2013 by serial entrepreneur Roman Kirsch. Its mission is to bring in-demand merchandise to people all over the world. Inspiring theme worlds and new product launches on a daily basis offer a unique and modern shopping experience – fast, smart, exciting. Through direct collaboration with the best factories worldwide – eliminating middle men – and thanks to data-driven merchandise selection, Lesara can offer its customers more than 50,000 products ranging from fashion, lifestyle, to home faster, cheaper and at better quality levels than others. At Lesara customers get everything they love at best prices – always in search of the current zeitgeist and latest trend. With its “Best Price Guarantee”, the company reinforces this promise. The consistent focus on the needs a d requirements of customers is also reflected in the personal, warm-hearted customer service – delivered by an international team of more than 120 dedicated professionals.

Contact person:

Lennarty Meyer

Hoschke & Consorten

l.meyer@hoschke.com