London-headquartered fashion rental marketplace HURR has raised $5.4m (£4.08m) in seed funding. The round was led by Octopus Ventures alongside participation from D4 Ventures and Ascension.
HURR, which is delivering $2.5m in annualised revenues, said it will use the fresh funds to expand its operations and develop its proprietary technology. The startup is aiming to disrupt the global women’s fashion industry, said to be worth $1.4tr.
It also wants to capitalise on the increasing consumer demand to embrace circular and sustainable fashion choices by providing rental second-hand designer clothes.
HURR was founded by Victoria Prew in 2019. Since then, it has built a hybrid business model that comprises peer-to-peer fashion rentals, direct partnerships with more than 85 exclusive fashion partners, and the recent launch of its white-label service, which powers rental for leading retailers including Selfridges Rental. HURR also wants to expand its white-label portfolio.
The fashion rental marketplace has an office in Selfridges London. Also, it announced a partnership with the global resale platform Depop, which was acquired by Etsy.
“We are also delighted to welcome Octopus Ventures, D4, and Ascension on our journey,” said Victoria Prew, CEO and founder of HURR. “Their combined expertise in circular and building exceptional customer-focused businesses will be tremendous assets as we work towards our vision of re-inventing ownership.”
Octopus Ventures, Europe’s largest VC firm and most active early-stage investor, has previously backed circular economy startups such as Depop, OLIO, and Whirli.
Matt Chandler, consumer investor at Octopus Ventures, said: “HURR is perfectly placed to capitalise on the shift towards new models of ownership and spearhead the transition to a more climate-friendly fashion industry. By operating the critical logistics functions needed for rental, it is able to provide a full-stack rental solution to existing brands, which in turn feeds the HURR platform with amazing breadth and depth of supply. We see a huge opportunity for scale and are excited to leverage our experience working with Depop as we partner with Victoria and her team.”
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