Minted, a company we’ve been covering on this site for a decade-plus, plans to double down on its wholesale and licensing business, which helps larger retailers sell stationery, art and home decor designed by its community of independent artists.
To fund the growing initiative, the design marketplace is today announcing a $208 million Series E funding led by Permira, with participation from T. Rowe Price. The round brings Minted’s total raised to date to $300 million. The company, founded in 2007, has previously landed backing from Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and others.
“Minted is playing into a trend that’s really fortunate for us, which is a need for differentiated design that helps retailers compete,” the company’s founder and chief executive officer Mariam Naficy told TechCrunch.
Naficy, a former vice president of U.S. e-commerce at The Body Shop, declined to disclose the company’s valuation, but says it’s profitable on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) basis and is on track to post “low hundreds of millions” in revenue this year. Its wholesale and licensing operation, she says, is itself expected to become a nine-figure business, too, and will likely represent 50 percent of Minted’s earnings in four years.
Minted is best known as an online marketplace for printed goods, like wedding invitations, greeting cards, notebooks, stationery and wall art. The company crowdsources work from independent illustrators, textile designers, painters and other artists, then lets its customers vote on the designs they like best to determine what is sold on Minted. Then, the platform leverages predictive analytics to forecast bestsellers. As a result, Naficy says they’ve collected hoards of valuable data surrounding consumer preferences.
Minted, in addition to fueling growth of its wholesale business, will use the investment to build out a robust supply chain, expand the team and continue experimenting with new business strategies, like its first brick-and-mortar store that recently popped up on San Francisco’s Fillmore Street, where the company is selling wall art and stationery.
Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Minted lands 8M Series E from Permira and T. Rowe Price
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