M.Gemi is a direct-to-consumer accessories and footwear brand founded in 2015 by Ben Fischman, Cheryl Kaplan and Maria Gangemi. The company combines craftsmanship with technology to release new products—mainly shoes—for men and women each week. Each piece is handmade in Italy by craftspeople at family-owned workshops, with new styles released each Monday. M.Gemi operates offices in Boston, New York and Florence and maintains storefronts in New York City’s Soho neighborhood and Boston’s Prudential Center. The company plans to use recent funding to accelerate investment in technology to enhance predictive analytics and to strengthen its supply chain in Italy. Following the new round, M.Gemi has raised $47.2M in total funding. M.Gemi is a luxury shoes brand that partners with Italy’s specialty factories to produce handcrafted, limited-edition styles. Launched in March 2015 by CEO Ben Fischman, the company releases new styles every Monday and adjusts its supply chain weekly based on client reactions. Its core product is artisanal footwear sold through a model that emphasizes rapid feedback and limited runs. The company intends to use the new funding to build out the team, develop data-centric inventory management systems and invest in innovative marketing strategies. M.Gemi closed an $18M Series B, bringing total funding to $32M. It operates between Boston, MA and Florence, Italy. M.Gemi sells handcrafted Italian women's footwear directly to consumers online and via mobile, positioning its products at lower price points than traditional luxury brands. The company was created out of Launch, a Boston-based venture-building studio, and was officially founded around nine months prior to the article. It partners with Italian factories to cut out wholesalers and showrooms, using workflow, logistics, materials sourcing and prototyping tools to flatten the supply chain and reduce costs. M.Gemi launches new collections weekly (new styles every Monday), had 28 styles at launch, and prices its shoes from $128 to $298. Shoes ship anywhere in the U.S. with free shipping and hassle-free returns, and the company plans a mobile app and has discussed lower-cost brick-and-mortar pop-ups for the future. The founders note the main near-term challenge is building brand awareness in a crowded shoe market, but say their factory relationships enable a steady product flow that is difficult for competitors to copy.

Total raised

$48M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Jun 2017