With the goal of becoming nothing less than the world’s next big design brand, commerce site Fab announced on Wednesday that it had raised $ 105 million.
The Series C round of financing was led by Atomico and included Pinnacle Ventures, ru-Net Technology Partners, Mayfield Fund and DoCoMo Capital, as well as current funders, such as Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, Baroda Ventures and First Round Capital.
“We believe that Fab can become the definitive global brand synonymous with design,” CEO Jason Goldberg said on his blog. “We’re building a franchise based on a consistent, thoughtful experience that puts customers first, not profits. We’re focused more on ensuring the long term success of that franchise than we are with near term gains. We’re in this for the long haul.”
With the new funds, Goldberg said the company will continue to focus on its customers, speed up its shipping times, boost the number of available products and expand its international presence. Now, the company sells in 20 countries (in North America and Europe) but next year it plans to move into more markets and, by 2014, the company expects more than half of its revenue to come from outside the U.S. Goldberg also said the company plans to develop all of its own technology, create new social and mobile innovations and expand its network designers.
Since launching to the public last June, after pivoting from the founders’ original plan to be a gay social networking site, Fab has attracted more than 5 million members who purchase 3.4 items per minute from more than 5,000 designers.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
- Social media in Q1: commerce and discovery dominated
- CES 2012: a recap and analysis
- 12 tech leaders’ resolutions for 2012