M.Gemi, the latest direct-to-consumer project lead by Rue La La Founder Ben Fischman, announced Thursday that the Italian footwear brand has raised $18 million in Series B funding. The new investment brings M.Gemi’s fundraising total to $32 million.
The company is set on reinventing luxury footwear by working with Italy’s most sought-after specialty factories to rapidly respond to client reactions with weekly adjustments to its supply chain. The result is a more affordable range of Made in Italy footwear updated every single Monday.
The new growth capital investment will fuel overall company growth and be used to assist in building out M.Gemi’s team, developing data-centric inventory management systems and investing in innovative marketing strategies.
In April, Vamp spoke to CEO Ben Fischman, just one month after M.Gemi launched. He said, “We are a luxury brand born of the digital age. We believe that most importantly, the best way to create a true client-centric culture and experience is to own the relationship directly, and not operate through a classic wholesale model. E-commerce and mobile is the first channel we are focusing on, but we also believe experiential retail is valuable and we do plan to roll out our own take on this in the future.”
The new investment was led by Accel, with continued participation from all existing investors, including General Catalyst Partners, Forerunner Ventures and Breakaway Ventures. In a statement, Harry Neils, partner at Accel based in London, said, “We are excited about our partnership with M.Gemi. The luxury market is prime for disruption and we believe the M.Gemi team has the experience and expertise to do it.”