Retail partnerships and in-store presence are essential for many emerging brands. Managing and nurturing these relationships effectively allows brands to build significant exposure and drive revenue growth. The Folklore, a technology platform and resource provider, plays a crucial role in supporting emerging brands with these key wholesale relationships, taking a multi-pronged approach. At its core, the company’s signature product, Folklore Connect, is a B2B marketplace and wholesale management platform that connects brands to retailers. The company is also broadening its offering with much-needed services for these brands through Folklore Capital, a marketplace for purchase order financing and working capital, and Folklore Source, a marketplace for freelance and marketing talent. Complimenting these offerings is a robust, resource-based educational offering, The Folklore Hub and community events across the globe to bring together like-minded communities. For brands, the pricing starts at $39M and includes access to both the marketplace and wholesale management software. The Folklore also takes a percentage of transactions completed on the platform. On the retail side, notable partners include Nordstrom, Shopbop, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman.
AlleyWatch caught up with The Folklore CEO and Founder Amira Rasool to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
The Folklore is announcing a $3.4M seed funding round led by Benchstrength, which is headed by two ex-General Catalyst partners Kenneth Chenault Jr and John Monagle. Existing investors Slauson & Co, Techstars, and Black Tech Nation Ventures also participated in the round. The latest announcement brings The Folklore’s total amount raised to $6.2M.
Tell us about the product or service that The Folklore offers.
The Folklore is leading a global movement for brands to learn, connect, sell, and thrive as a community. In supporting this mission, The Folklore provides global brands with technology, education, and community resources to grow their business and enables retailers and service providers to collaborate better with brands.
The company’s software and marketplace technology help global brands manage and grow their wholesale business, source talent, and access capital, while enabling retailers and service providers to discover and work with a more diverse and global network of brands.
In addition to technology, brands have access to educational content and community events designed to help navigate their business from inception through the growth stage. Monthly in person and digital programming and community groups are designed for brands to connect, support, and build together.
What inspired the start of The Folklore?
The Folklore was inspired by the core mission to economically empower diverse and emerging market brands. Our goal was to create solutions that allow these communities to grow their businesses. We initially focused on African and diasporic brands, and have since expanded to support a wider range of brands across various demographics and geographic regions. Our original core mission to empower racially diverse brands and brands in emerging markets like Africa, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean remains a strong part of the company’s DNA, even as membership becomes accessible to a larger community.
How is The Folklore different?
The Folklore is different in the ways that we have built our incredible community of talent, how we have scaled by listening and learning from our retailers and brand’s real-world experiences, as well as our core mission to empower diverse communities across the world.
With the expansion of The Folklore, we are creating technologies and communities that will help our brands in scaling their businesses. In addition to the existing The Folklore Connect, the wholesale management software and B2B marketplace, The Folklore will be introducing The Folklore Capital, The Folklore Source, The Folklore Hub, and community events. A key to our consistent user and revenue growth is that the team is building things that make sense for our customers that we are targeting. We aren’t looking to make things we think they will like, we are actually talking with them to hear their experience and building what they need.
The Folklore Capital, a loan matchmaker for PO financing and working capital, is catered to partner the right types of financing with these brands, whilst ensuring they truly understand the needs and sizes of these businesses in their region, or internationally, which has been lacking in the past. The Folklore Source, a vetted freelancer and manufacturing talent marketplace, which stemmed from our brands sharing the difficulties in finding talent that suited their needs, understood their company size, or weren’t located locally, with existing sites often overlooking regions of the world with limited options for these brands.
In addition, The Folklore is focused on building a tangible community with online resources, in-person events, and the ability to connect with like-minded businesses. The Folklore Hub, a resource center with exclusive educational content and downloadable templates, is a crucial asset given that not all brand founders can afford to go to business or fashion school, but still need these tools to understand the market and how to grow their companies. The Folklore’s community events will be both in-person, and virtual, with members having access to monthly live webinars, quarterly workshops, digital community groups, and the opportunity to attend monthly in-person events, including mixers, dinners, co-working days, fireside chats, and panel discussions.
What market does The Folklore target and how big is it?
The Folklore is targeting the multi-billion dollar market of entrepreneurs building and running consumer goods brands across fashion, beauty, home, beauty, hygiene, wellness, and kids & baby.
What’s your business model?
The Folklore business model is split in two: B2B SasS solution and B2B marketplace. With the expansion, The Folklore enables brands to sign up for a membership for $39/month and receive instant access to our software and discovery marketplaces, educational resources, and community events. Retailers can join the platform for free to gain access to a brand discovery marketplace and place wholesale orders. Service providers can also join for free to get in front of potential clients, book projects, and receive payment.
We make money from our brand membership fees, which range from $39/month to $3,700/year. We also earn revenue from transactions processed through our marketplaces.
How has the business changed since we last spoke after your Pre-seed round in 2022?
Since we launched The Folklore Connect platform publicly in 2023, The Folklore has since driven millions in wholesale revenue for its 400+ users, whilst establishing partnerships with boutique retailers and 23 enterprise retail partners, which includes retail giants Nordstrom, Shopbop, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Revolve, and many more.
In 2024, The Folklore’s expanded its platform and membership offering, which will now include the launch of The Folklore Source, The Folklore Capital, The Folklore Hub, alongside the existing The Folklore Connect, as well as a lineup of in-person and virtual education and community-driven events. These new changes coincide with the company’s plans to widen its community by opening up membership to support more global brands looking for resources and community to drive their growth.
What was the funding process like?
The funding process for the seed round showcased the importance of maintaining relationships, and keeping investors, or potential investors, informed of your business milestones and achievements. With Benchstrength, who led our seed round, I was first introduced to Kenneth Chenault Jr. around the summer of 2022. At that time they were getting their fund launched, and he had shown interest, but at the time we weren’t raising yet. I kept in touch with Ken throughout that year and added him to our quarterly updates list, so that when we kicked off our round they were one of our first calls. Having that foundational understanding of the business, staying up-to-date on developments, allowed us to get the deal done efficiently. This was also true of our existing investors, whom I worked to nurture the relationships well in advance of any raise to ensure they were in the loop. I will continue to embrace this approach moving forward, and would encourage others to do the same.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The biggest challenge I faced was the volatility of the current fundraising market. It was harder to determine which funds had money and which funds were actively deploying. Getting investors to come in after our terms were set was also challenging. Many funds have the desire to get a bigger piece for less now, and we went into this round knowing that we were focused on getting a valuation that reflected our growth and the company’s value.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
With this round, the core factor that led our partners to invest was The Folklore’s track record of past growth, ensuring that existing investors and potential new investors were kept in the loop about our successes, and showcasing the expanding market that we are speaking to with this expansion. With our pre-seed round, I had mentioned that investors are betting on the founder, and whilst I still think that is true our accomplishments in the last two years have shown that I’m not just a good investment, the company is too.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
In the next six months, we are looking to onboard a large number of consumer goods brands from across the globe. With our membership model, any brand that joins will have access to all the existing and new technology and services that are included in membership plans. Having this community opened up to any brand that would like to join is an exciting opportunity for The Folklore to scale and bolster across all our consumer goods categories. We also want to continue to grow the number of enterprise retail partners we’re helping source brands and the number of service providers offering services to our brands.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Cut the fluff. Look at the $15/month subscriptions, and cut those too. It’s about doing more with less. If you see something is not working, don’t waste any more money on it, get rid of it. In this venture environment, we have to hold on to as much money as we can, without sacrificing the money that needs to be spent to grow revenue.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Before the end of this year, we plan to have thousands of brand members, dozens of enterprise retailers, and hundreds of service providers.
This year, The Folklore will continue to serve brands producing apparel, accessories, beauty, and home products and is now excited to welcome wellness, hygiene, and kids & baby brands into the fold. In addition to bolstering our virtual events, The Folklore plans to host in-person events in ten cities in 2024 in New York, Accra, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lagos, London, Los Angeles, Nairobi, Atlanta, and Abidjan.
What’s your favorite coffee shop or location in the city to hold a meeting?
I’m not a big coffee shop person and I usually work from home, so virtual meetings are my preference. However, when I do leave the house, I typically work from Ludlow House so I like to have people come there for meetings so I don’t have to run around the city.
