Kite Ventures and Ru-Net-backed TrendsBrands received USD 3 mln from Ventech, a Paris-headquatered venture capital firm. Transbrands’ core focus, both on its online and offline platforms, is designer clothes retail. Started in June 2011 the company targeted custormers seeking fashion items on low prices, yet with unique design and great quality. The concept of pairing high [...]

Burda International has taken a 25 per cent stake in Polish e-commerce site SHOWROOM – shwrm.pl. Aspiring Polish designers can feature their collections on the site, and 500 of them currently use the portal to showcase their work. The company was formed at the beginning of 2012 with financial backing from hardGAMMA. With Burda purchasing [...]

Warsaw-based MCI Management, a CEE-focused PE group providing multi-stage funding for technology companies, has invested USD 15.5 mln in Russia’s leading internet fashion retail club KupiVip Holding. The investment will support a diverse range of development, including launching new websites, order fulfillment capability and business growth. Revenue estimates put the company’s current turnover at USD [...]

PE firm Carlyle will take up a minority stake in Turkey’s largest lingerie and swim wear manufacturer Penti. The investment will be used for international expansion, and indicative estimates put the company’s current value at around USD 450 mln. The USD 500 mln MENA-dedicated fund managed by Carlyle will be the investment source, making this [...]

Rocket Internet-backed online fashion and footwear retailer LaModa.ru has managed to bag a huge investment from investor JP Morgan, thought to be at least USD 40-80 mln. LaModa management will use the injection of funds for increasing their CIS presence as well as the site’s product portfolio. The site’s main competition comes from Sapato; interestingly, [...]

Bahraini investment firm Investcorp has purchased a 30-percent stake in Turkish menswear retail company Orka Group. This is not Investcorp’s first foray into the clothing and accessory retail industry: they are the former owners of the elite Gucci and Tiffany & Co. brands. This will be the investment company’s sixth initiative since its inception, and [...]

Russian internet company specialist Fast Lane Ventures has just launched its second unique service, a social marketing platform for jewelry and other accessories.

International investors 3i has sold its 49 percent minority stake in premiere Finnish outdoor clothing and sporting goods manufacturer Halti Oy to Ingman Group. The eight-year business relationship between 3i and Halti has helped the latter to double its annual revenues and move into the international market by leveraging 3i’s international network of contacts and [...]

In our Company Review session we are to explore the most promising, Central and Eastern European start-ups and companies with unique ideas. Besides the company profiles we also include short market and competitor analyses.   This week we introduce IVANKA Concrete Factory, a fresh design firm from Budapest, Hungary.

Russian entrepreneur Leonid Boguslavsky has invested, through his PE firm ru-Net, in Indian online footwear retailer BeStylish. Former investors include Mangrove Capital, which funded the retailer in 2011. The current investment from ru-Net is pegged at USD 8 mln. BeStylish is currently the largest online shoe retail store in the Indian ecommerce space, having rapidly grown [...]

Ukrainian VC fund TA Venture, along with international investors that include Blumberg Capital and Brain-to-Ventures, has jointly invested in Urbanara, an online home textile and fabric accessory retail start-up company to the tune of USD 4.4 mln. The investors were roped in with prospects of rapid growth; Urbanara’s operations are already in an expansion mode [...]

PE firm Penta Investments and asset managers Eastbridge have now raised their bid for Polish retail company Empik Media & Fashion to PLZ 10.38 per share. The first offer, pegged at PLZ 410 mln for a 40-percent stake in the company, was rejected in favor of a higher bid, which seems to have come through. [...]

Portfolion, the VC  arm of OTP Hungary, invested USD 1.6 mln into the Hungarian fashion brand Nanushka. The VC firm is ready to lend a USD 1 mln loan to cover further expenses occurring while Nanushka carries out its new marketing strategy. Portfolion has already appointed a new management team which will focus on production and international distribution. [...]

In what is being talked about as the hottest news in Russian web company investment circles, online clothing retailer shoptime.ru has just received a USD 50 mln stamp of approval from its rival, KupiVIP. Shoptime.ru’s no-discount sales model that offers a permanent line of new apparel from popular brands contrasts with KupiVIP’s flash sales retail [...]

Turkish clothing store retail chain Fabeks Diş Ticaret has managed to bag a sizable investment from Saudi bank-funded Eastgate Capital. The 49.8 percent equity stake that was sold to Eastgate was completed via the latter’s MENA Direct Equity Fund. The funding will be used to expand Fabeks’s presence in Turkey, as well as additional target markets. The [...]

Turkish hosiery house Penti has attracted several potential controlling stake buyers like Bridgepoint, the Kuwaiti company Global Investment House (GIH) and CVC. If Bridgepoint should close the deal, it will be the first investment by the mid-cap UK company in Turkey since the 2009 investment into TüvTurk, the vehicle inspection group of companies. Penti (www.penti.com) Penti was [...]

Ukrainian venture capital firm TA Venture has co-invested in Tailored, a US-based personalized online bridal wear shopping platform. Other investors in the startup include Jose Martin and Fabrice Grinda.   TA Venture (www.taventure.com) TA Venture is an early-stage web technology focused venture capital firm that focuses on startups in Ukraine, Russia, CIS countries, Europe and [...]

Online sports, travel and leisure goods retailer Heverest.ru has raised a new round of funding worth USD 4.3 mln. eVenture Capital Partners and an unnamed Russian PE fund have jointly participated in this round. The funding will be used to expand their product line and increase their sales and marketing initiatives, and also upgrade their [...]

The Baltic SME Fund – an investment vehicle advised by leading private equity investor BaltCap, has sold its significant minority stake in Estonian textile rental and laundry service provider Tallinna Pesumaja to local private investors. The Baltic state’s leading PE fund had provided capital for setting up a new laundry facility and development of the [...]

Investor Genesis Capital is seeking to exit its investment in Czech designer clothing brand Pietro Filipi. Genesis had acquired a 58 percent stake in the fashion brand for Kč  63 million in 2004. Michaela Bakala’s Luxury Brand Management is rumored to have evinced interest in acquiring the stake. Pietro Filipi (www.pietro-filipi.com) The Pietro Filipi fashion label can be [...]