Rent the Runway began about 10 years ago and offers one-time rentals alongside two subscription offerings, giving customers shared, dynamic access to clothing. The company has expanded its offline presence, opening a fifth standalone brick-and-mortar location in San Francisco. Its core product is a subscription-driven clothing rental service that the company says it will continue to innovate. With the new funding, Rent the Runway plans to scale its subscription business, broaden its clothing and home decor assortments, and open additional fulfillment facilities. Financially, the company has raised $337 million in venture funding to date and recently closed a large financing that values the business at $1 billion. Rent the Runway, founded in 2009, operates a platform that lets users rent items of clothing for special events or on a subscription basis. The company started with one-off rentals at about 10% of an item’s price and in 2017 introduced a subscription model offering unlimited rentals for $89/month. Since the subscription launch, RTR’s subscription business is up 150% year over year and represents 50% of the company’s overall revenue. RTR said it will use the new capital to continue growing its subscription business, expand operations, and refinance its existing debt facility. Company leadership framed the credit facility as a lower-cost, less-dilutive financing option that provides flexible access to capital. Temasek received a board observer seat as part of the deal. Rent the Runway launched in 2009 to rent designer dresses for special events. Since then it has expanded into an everyday-wear service that lets people rent out their closets to other people. The company is led by CEO Jennifer Hyman, who said the investment comes as the company embarks on its "biggest growth stage yet." TechCrunch reports that Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and Joe Tsai invested $20 million via Blue Pool Capital in the company. That round reportedly values Rent the Runway at about $800 million. Its prior financing was a $60 million Series E in 2016 led by Fidelity. Rent the Runway operates a fashion e-commerce rental marketplace offering one-time designer rentals and subscription plans, including an “unlimited” monthly service and StylePass. The company reports 6 million members across the U.S. and is expanding offline with brick-and-mortar locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, plus a branded shop inside Neiman Marcus in San Francisco. Financially, Rent the Runway says it is profitable on an EBITDA basis and has grown revenue to over $100 million, forecasting $121 million for 2016 (up from $44 million in 2014). CEO Jennifer Hyman said the company is valued the way public companies are valued, a remark that suggests IPO ambitions. The company plans to use capital to accelerate growth of its a la carte and subscription products and to further build out operational capacity, including its reverse logistics platform. Over the past seven years it has raised more than $190 million in venture capital, with past investors including American Express, Conde Nast, and Kleiner Perkins. Rent the Runway is a New York City provider that lets women rent designer apparel and accessories via online and mobile platforms and physical retail locations. The company offers items from more than 270 designers and operates retail locations in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas. Led by CEO and co-founder Jennifer Hyman and President and COO Beth Kaplan, Rent the Runway combines e‑commerce and brick-and-mortar touchpoints. It plans to use its latest funding to expand marketing and product development, open a network of retail locations across 15 key markets, and establish a first West Coast distribution center. Financially, the company raised $60M in a Series D and has now raised $116M to date. No other operating metrics or revenue figures were disclosed in the article.

Total raised

$519M

Funding rounds

9

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2019