Poshly builds personalization technologies that connect beauty brands with consumers, but the real beauty of the platform is the way that the company is collecting data. Think hyper-personal. Poshly members discover beauty products that are best suited for them and their lifestyles, while brands better understand the preferences and personas of consumers in real-time. Oh, members get free stuff, too and that’s always a big draw.
All of which helped to draw in Frontier Equities VC, who led the round, joined by Astia Angels, CPEG Ventures, WI Harper Group, and additional private investors.
Co-founders Doreen Bloch (CEO) and Brad Falk (CTO), former SecondMarket employees both, talk about how to raise an oversubscribed round – nice problem to have!
What was the funding process like?
We were fortunate to have had a tremendous amount of interest among prospective funders. Poshly raised its first round of funding earlier this year, and we knew that, upon reaching key milestones, we would raise another round this summer. We had been very communicative with prospective investors about the milestones, so when it came time to open the round, it was a swift process and we were actually oversubscribed.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Until funds are in the bank, there is always a level of uncertainty that entrepreneurs have to manage when it comes to fundraising. Overall, our capital raise went smoothly because it was well planned and communicated. As we have attracted more clients and users to Poshly’s platform, investors have been more and more eager to come aboard.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Deep consumer intelligence is hard to come by. There is a lot of excitement from investors for companies that can gather and analyze consumer data, and Poshly is bringing these kinds of actionable, data-centric solutions to an underserved and large vertical—beauty and personal care. Poshly is offering brand clients a unique solution that is faster and more efficient than ever before, and that value proposition is exciting to investors.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
It’s important to show prospective investors a track record of delivering results as a team. I think being in touch with investors as the company reaches its milestones is helpful for showing traction. Also, beyond touching base with investors when you do hit new milestones, I recommend being prepared early, with a robust due diligence package that you can share with prospective funders. Be sure to organize your company’s financial reports and projections, contracts, references, and screenshots in one place to address questions an investor has before making an investment decision.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
One of the benefits of Poshly is how quickly we can turnaround new data insights for our clients. We’re excited to make that turnaround time as near to real-time as possible with our Poshly Insights platform that is going to market. Also, we are looking forward to growing Poshly’s technology team, too. For those interested, please see our full list of job openings for our New York City and San Francisco offices. As we grow, we are excited to scale Poshly’s services for clients and consumers.
Which is the #1 shade of lipstick?
That’s not a trivial question! Our data shows that 71% of women overall prefer basic and classic shades of nude, pink or red, but Poshly can deliver the answer in a lot of ways, depending on whether you’re interested in a certain age bracket, specific geographic region, or particular time of year.
