Thread, a UK-based fashion tech startup, has raised £4m in funding from venture and growth capital investor Beringea, existing investor Balderton Capital and a number of angel investors.
The men’s online personal styling service, which was founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneurs Kieran O’ Neill, Ben Phillips and Ben Kucsan, launched with $25,000 from American accelerator programme programme Y Combinator.
Thread connects customers to personal stylists, with users able to upload photos of clothes they already own, to help Thread make recommendations for new items.
With the new funding, Thread will scale within the UK, expanding both its current team of 30 and its user base, which is 325,000-strong at present.
Kieran O’Neill, co-founder and CEO of Thread said: “It’s been a really exciting journey discovering how to fuse human stylists with powerful algorithms to help guys dress well without having to go shopping.
“The business has been growing quickly, and we’re excited to have the support from Beringea, Balderton and others to allow us to further that. I started this business because I had this problem myself, and it’s exciting to see thousands of other men get the same value from Thread that I do.”