StylistPick Bags $8M from Index Ventures, Accel Partners

London-based StylistPick, which operates monthly membership program that provides shoppers with access to the hottest shoe picks and fashion experts, has raised an $8 million Series A round of funding from Index Ventures and Accel Partners. As part of the funding, joining the company’s board of directors are Robin Klein–who along with his son Saul are at Index running what is now formally known as Index Seed–and Accel’s Sonali De Rycke, who also sits on the board of Wonga.

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STYLISTPICK RAISES $8 MILLION SERIES A FROM INDEX VENTURES AND ACCEL PARTNERS FOR CURATED COMMERCE

New service provides shoppers access to personalized recommendations from leading fashion figures

London – 12 April 2011 – Today, StylistPick, a monthly membership eCommerce site, announced an $8 million USD (£5 million GBP) Series A round of funding, co-led by venture capital firms Accel Partners and Index Ventures. The money will be used for category diversification, geographic expansion and increased sales and marketing efforts. As part of this financing, Robin Klein from Index and Sonali De Rycker from Accel will be joining the board.

“StylistPick offers consumers a new way to get personalized shopping recommendations from some of fashion’s biggest names. We can bring this customized experience to online shoppers in a fun, affordable way,” said StylistPick founder and CEO Felix Leuschner. “The new round of funding from Accel and Index will enable us to grow the business more quickly through geographic and category expansion, and by further building the StylistPick team.”

Since its launch less than a year ago, Stylistpick’s membership has been doubling every month. Customers sign up to StylistPick.com and take a short quiz to identify their fashion profile. They then receive an email with tailored recommendations of shoes and bags that match their taste, as chosen by leading fashion personalities like Grace Woodward from Britain’s Next Top Model and The X Factor; fashion journalist and MTV star Louise Roe; and professional stylists Charlotte Adsett, Steph Stevens, Arabella Greenhill and Chris Leger. Customers can pick their favorite pair of shoes or bag or just skip the month. for just £39.95 per month including shipping, StylistPick brings consumers style advice from the same people who dress celebrities like Alexa Chung, Dannii Minogue, Paloma Faith or Pixie Lott.

“We believe that Felix and his team have created a very powerful new way for fast fashion shoppers to engage with the products they love,” said Sonali De Rycker, a partner at Accel. “By bringing stylist and great content into the mix, StylistPick is creating an exciting brand experience for a growing demographic.  As active investors in social commerce we see the company as a great example of how social media can reshape categories. “

StylistPick was founded in 2010 and received an initial seed investment from Index Seed and angel investors Stefan Glaenzer, Alex Zubillaga and Robert Dighero.

“Felix is a proven entrepreneur who knows how to build successful businesses, so we were excited about the opportunity to work with him on growing StylistPick into a category leader,” said Robin Klein, a partner at Index Ventures. “The eCommerce industry is undergoing a huge wave of innovation and companies like StylistPick are leading the way.”

About StylistPick

StylistPick, founded in London in 2010, is an entertainment-led fast fashion company that is bringing personalization and curation to fashion eCommerce. StylistPick combines the feel of boutique shopping – excitement, personal advice, discovery – with a subscriptions-based purchasing model, allowing customers to shop for fashion in a new and entertaining way. Partnering with well-known stylists and celebrities, StylistPick presents its customers each month with specially curated selections of shoes, handbags and accessories that are new, interesting and affordable – every product on the site retails for £39.95, shipping included. For more information, visit www.stylistpick.com.

About Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a venture capital firm, founded in 1996, that partners with entrepreneurs in the technology, biotech and clean tech industries. The team is based in Geneva, London, and Jersey and will open a Silicon Valley office in the Fall of 2011. Index works closely with companies at all stages to build disruptive technologies and emerge as market defining global leaders. The firm is currently investing from the Index Ventures Seed Fund (2010), Index Ventures fund V (€350 million, 2009) and the Index Ventures Growth I fund (€400 million, 2008).  Successful exits from the technology portfolio include Lovefilm (acquired by Amazon), Betfair (LSE : BET.L), Playfish (acquired by Electronic Arts), MySQL (acquired by Sun), Last.fm (acquired by CBS) and Skype (acquired by eBay).  Index’s current investments include Adconion, AlertMe, ASOS, Criteo, Boku, Etsy, Factual, Flipboard, GroupSpaces, Mimecast, MOO, Moshi Monsters, Ozon.ru, Rightscale, Sonos, Privalia, Rightscale, Trialpay and viagogo.  For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/indexventures.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class companies. With over $7 billion under management, Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful category-defining companies including: Admob, Alfresco, Arrowpoint, Baidu, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Diapers.com, Etsy, Facebook, Focus Media, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, ModCloth, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Raptr, Real Networks, Redback Networks, Qriously, Riverbed, Rovio, Sohu.com, SunRun, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, XenSource, and Zimbra and others. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.