MMC Ventures backs Boticca series-A

Ellie Pullen
05 September 2013

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MMC Ventures has taken part in a ТЃ2.5m series-A funding round for Boticca, a London based e-commerce site for luxury fashion accessories, alongside a number of high-net-worth individuals.

Besides MMC, the funding round saw previous investor Isai invest in the business alongside several high-net-worth individuals from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including business angel and Markafoni CEO Sina Afra, a Turkish entrepreneur and former European director of M&A for eBay.

The fresh funding will be used by Boticca to finance further internationalisation by entering new markets, as well as roll out local-language versions of its website. The company will also expand its team and accelerate its marketing activities to grow its customer database.

Since the company's seed funding round in 2011, Boticca has experienced 150% year-on-year growth, according to MMC.

Previous funding
In June 2011, Isai led a £1.5m seed funding round for Boticca. Isai is a French venture capital firm comprising 70 internet entrepreneurs, including its founder Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet of PriceMinister; Ouriel Ohayon, formerly of Techcrunch; Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux of Virgin Mobile; and early Google investor Bobby Yazdani.

The firm manages two funds: Isai Developpement and Isai Expansion. The former, which held its final close in October 2010 on €35m, invests €500,000-1.5m in young, internet-based businesses. The latter held its final close earlier this week on €50m and typically invests €1-5m, also in internet-focused companies.

Company
Founded in 2010, Boticca is headquartered in London and currently employs 20 staff. The company operates an e-commerce site for jewellery and fashion accessories made by independent designers, which acts almost as a marketplace.

Boticca claims to have a designer base of 300 independent designers and more than 10,000 products from 40 countries on its site. The company introduces two to three new designers to its online store every week, which are sourced by Boticca's "style hunters" who travel around the world to find previously undiscovered designers.

The company's sales come 50% from Europe, 30% from the US and 20% from both Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

People
Former TA Associates investment professional Kiyan Foroughi is the CEO of Boticca, as well as a co-founder alongside COO Avid Larizadeh, formerly with Accel Partners. Jon Coker is a partner at MMC.