Participated · Seed · Jul 2023

Karta is a London, UK-based Metaverse studio pioneering in-game experiential marketing. Launched in 2021 by music industry veteran Tony Barnes and Fnatic’s ex-Head of Events Erik Londré, the studio focuses on making the metaverse accessible to musicians, brands and sports rights-holders. In two years it has delivered projects on Roblox, Fortnite and Decentraland for clients including Amazon Music, Unilever’s Sunsilk and K-pop group TWICE. The company raised a seed funding round of $1.1M and intends to use the proceeds to expand operations and broaden its business reach. The studio’s core product is experiential metaverse activations delivered across major virtual platforms for entertainment and brand partners.

Led · Series B · May 2023

Secret Sales operates a stockless online marketplace that lets fashion and beauty brands sell leftover or unused inventory at discounted prices while retaining brand control. The platform integrates real-time inventory and customer-service data to forecast demand and enable brands to list stock quickly, with connections taking under two weeks compared with legacy outlets' up to eight weeks. The startup reports around $3 billion of inventory on its platform and generates revenue by taking a margin from retailers for sales and customer-experience services. It positions itself as a more sustainable alternative by reducing waste and lowering transportation-related carbon footprint since stock often remains in brands' warehouses. Secret Sales works with a range of retailers from athletic brands like Puma to higher-end names such as Ted Baker and Kurt Geiger. With the new funding, the company plans to enhance its technology and pursue expansion into 12 new markets. Secret Sales operates an online fashion marketplace that was relaunched from a members-only flash-sales website into a dedicated marketplace after its acquisition by Lifestyle Retail Group in March 2020. The platform showcases over 700 brands and has grown 4,000% since the relaunch in March last year. The company plans to use new funding to advance technological development, improve data mining capabilities, and deploy proprietary data AI to optimise sell-through and the user experience. It intends to scale its ecommerce platform to compete globally in the discount retail space while expanding its UK operations. Secret Sales is due to go live in six other countries in the next year and aims to increase sales and customer engagement for its brand and retail partners. SecretSales.com runs a flash fashion sales site that sells branded fashion through a members-driven platform. The company reports 3.2 million registered members and a portfolio of 650 brands. It posted 70% net sales growth in 2013. Mobile channels are material: 29% of sales come via smartphones and 26% via tablets. Management says it has “ambitious growth plans,” and investors describe the business as part of a movement of “data-driven” e-commerce companies. The new funding is earmarked for product development and customer acquisition. SecretSales is a private online shopping club offering discounted sales across fashion, accessories, home wares, travel and other lifestyle categories. Launched in the United Kingdom in 2007 and based out of Nothing Hill, London, it claims over 2 million registered members and partnerships with more than 650 individual brands. The company employs around 50 staff. SecretSales plans to use the funding to double down on its expansion in the UK. Management changes accompany the raise: Sergio Dias was appointed Executive Chairman and will join CEO Nish Kukadia and buying director Sach Kukadia on the board. Co‑founders Michael Cody and Silvia Cody are stepping down from active roles but remain shareholders. Launched in 2007, Secretsales is one of the UK’s largest online private shopping clubs, giving members access to discounted offers on some 450 lifestyle, fashion, homeware and leisure brands. The site exploits the overstock market while preserving an air of exclusivity for its sales and partner brands. Secretsales will use new funding to accelerate growth and to leverage the expertise and track record of its new investor, Brands4friends. The company remains based in London and has made several senior appointments as part of the deal, including Sergio Dias as Chairman and Ed Bussey as an Advisory Board Member. Brands4friends’ CEO Christian Heitmeyer and Director International and Corporate Development Olivier Schuepbach will also join the Secretsales board. Secretsales operates in a competitive European private-shopping market alongside players such as Vente Privee, BrandAlley, KupiVIP.ru and BuyVIP.