Private-equity-backed Lesara files for insolvency

After a €10m bridge financing round was cancelled, the company's CEO and founder, Roman Kirsch, filed for insolvency under self-administration for both Lesara and its logistics subsidiary Lesara Logistics at the Berlin-Charlottenburg court last week.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Berlin, Lesara is an online retailer of clothing, accessories, jewellery and beauty products. The company employs 300 staff and sells its products on its website directly from manufacturers at a discount of up to 80% for the consumer.

The company raised approximately €1m in January 2014 from Simile Venture Partners, Cherry Ventures and Paua Ventures. In October of the same year, Mangrove Capital Partners led a €5m series-A for the business, joined by Partech Ventures. All existing investors took part in a €15m series-B in September 2015 with new investors Northzone and Vorwerk leading the round.

Two years later, Lesara raised a $40m series-C from a consortium of investors including Mangrove Capital. The lead investor was not disclosed but Lesara said all previous backers took part.

More recently, Lesara raised a €30m series-D funding round in July 2018, led by US-based growth investor 3L Capital, with the participation of previous backers Mangrove Capital, Northzone and Vorwerk Ventures. The series-D brought the total equity raised by the business to around €90m.

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• Topics
• Consumer
• DACH
• Exits
• Germany
• Venture
• Partech Ventures
• Northzone