Beyond the Rack Racks up $36M Equity Round

Canadian e-tailer Beyond the Rack reeled in $36 million in VC bucks from investors Panorama Capital, the California VC that read the round, and other investors Export Development Canada, Tandem Expansion Fund, Rho Canada, Inovia Capital, Highland Capital Partners and BDC Capital. Shahan Soghikian, a MD with Panorama Capital, will join Beyond the Rack’s board.

PRESS RELEASE:

Beyond the Rack Gears Up for Next Phase of Growth With $36 Million Equity Round
Leading online shopping club adds prestigious mix of US and Canadian venture funds to its investor base.

MONTREAL, Nov. 9, 2011 — Beyond the Rack today announced that it recently closed a $36.6 million USD investment round led by Silicon Valley-based Panorama Capital with additional investment from Export Development Canada, Tandem Expansion Fund, Rho Canada, and Inovia Capital. Current investors Highland Capital Partners and BDC Venture Capital also participated in the round.

Proceeds from the current round of funding will be used to further accelerate growth and enhance logistics and distribution to accommodate the rapid expansion of the Company’s active customer base.
Beyond the Rack was recently ranked as North America’s fastest-growing online retailer by Internet Retailer’s Magazine. The company has attracted over 5 million consumer members and over 3,000 brand partners to its online flash-sale marketplace.
“This significant funding will allow us to continue to maintain our leadership position in both Canada and the U.S.” said Yona Shtern, CEO of Beyond the Rack. “We are extremely appreciative of the continued support from our existing shareholders and are thrilled to add such highly respected investors to our team,” added Mr. Shtern.
As the category leader in Canada “Beyond the Rack is successfully executing its strategy of rapid expansion with an emphasis on profitable growth, in sharp contrast to some of its competitors. In targeting a much broader segment of consumers, we see an opportunity to build a very substantial company and are delighted to join forces to further expand its thriving business,” said Shahan Soghikian, Managing Director at Panorama Capital who will join Beyond the Rack’s Board of Directors.
“Watching Beyond the Rack transform from a small start-up into North America’s market leader over such a short period of time has been extremely gratifying,” added Dan Nova, general partner at Highland Capital. “We are excited to continue to play an active role in the company’s further development.”
About Beyond the Rack
Beyond the Rack, North America’s premier online shopping club, offers its members the most sought-after designer brand apparel, accessories, beauty, consumer electronics, and home decor products at up to 70% off retail. Ranked by Internet Retailer as North America’s fastest-growing e-tailer in 2011, Beyond the Rack sells its products in the context of limited-time, limited-quantity sales events. Members can expect up to 15 new events each day, starting at 11AM ET. The privately held company has offices in Montreal, New York, Las Vegas & Toronto with a staff of 250 full-time employees. Beyond the Rack proudly serves more than 5 million members across North America and works with over 3,000 consumer brands.
About Panorama Capital Partners
Panorama Capital seeks investment opportunities in life sciences and technology companies led by dynamic, experienced entrepreneurs. Leveraging two decades of investment and operating experience, the team invests in mid to later stage financings primarily in the consumer and mobile segments in technology, and biopharmaceuticals in life sciences. Panorama partners with its portfolio management teams to bring its experience and extensive network to bear on solving strategic challenges, building teams and accelerating growth. The partners are proud to have invested in and worked with numerous successful companies including Digital Island, ONI Systems, Myogen, Petco Animal Supplies, Kinkos, Eyetech, Piramed, Seattle Genetics, Corus Pharma, Federated Media, 1-800-Flowers.com, and Portal Player, among others.
About Rho Canada
Rho Canada, based in Montreal, is dedicated to backing leading, early-stage companies across Canada. Formed in 2006, Rho Canada is affiliated with Rho Ventures, based in New York and Palo Alto, and leverages off Rho Ventures’ 30+ years of experience in investing in venture-stage companies. Since 1981, Rho Ventures has been investing in leading edge, high growth companies that redefine the status quo. The firm has a deep history of supporting companies at multiple stages of growth spanning early stage investments to later stage expansion and growth equity transactions. Rho has over $2 billion under management.
About Tandem Expansion Fund
Tandem Expansion is a private growth capital fund with over $300 million in committed capital actively seeking to invest in small and mid-sized Canadian companies in a variety of technology-based sectors. Tandem acts as a catalyst for growth and expansion by making significant investments in established companies with high growth potential and strong management teams.
About Export Development Canada
EDC is Canada’s export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC’s knowledge and partnerships are used by more than 8,200 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is financially self-sustaining and a recognized leader in financial reporting and economic analysis.
About Highland Capital Partners LLC
For the past twenty years, Highland Capital Partners has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional seed through later stage growth companies in the healthcare, internet & digital media and technology markets. Highland actively seeks to provide the right mix of strategic guidance, hands-on leadership and deep industry domain expertise for helping entrepreneurs and their teams become market-leading organizations. With over $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Geneva, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Continental Cable, Generation Health, lululemon athletica, Lycos, MapQuest, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Quigo, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica and VistaPrint.
About BDC Venture Capital
As Canada’s business development bank, BDC puts entrepreneurs first. BDC’s Venture Capital division (BDC VC) is one of the country’s most active venture capital investors and is involved at every stage of its investee companies’ development cycles, from seed through expansion. BDC VC focuses on technology-based businesses with high growth potential that are positioned to become dominant players in their respective markets.
About iNovia
iNovia partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build successful companies in high growth sectors. The team is comprised of entrepreneurs and sector experts focused on Mobile, Internet and Digital Media. iNovia has $165M under management across two seed and early stage funds.