Lyst confirms LVMH investment, believed to be around $60m

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 25, 2018

Fashion search platform Lyst has confirmed a new round of financing on the part of luxury giant LVMH. While the terms weren’t disclosed, various reports put the amount both at “over” or “below” $60 million.

The deal will see LVMH’s Chief Digital Officer Ian Rogers joining the Lyst board and on Thursday he said that “e-commerce now represents multi-billion euro revenue and explosive growth for LVMH Maisons.”

He added: “As we continue to invest across the full spectrum of the online luxury experience, Lyst’s vision for a seamless fashion search and discovery destination, coupled with its exceptional growth potential, provides us with a unique opportunity.” 

Lyst said that last year it provided enhanced search services to more than 70 million fashion shoppers. The company is now profitable and has seen revenues grow over 400% in the past three years since it last raised funds.

And that growth has come as the luxury sector in itself has expanded. Lyst is the biggest name in luxury search and claims to offer "the world’s most comprehensive inventory of luxury and contemporary products.” The platform brings together 12,000 brands and retailers and reaches shoppers in more than 120 countries.

So what will it do with the new investment cash? It said the investment will support its “continued international expansion into new markets, and will fuel the company’s growth across its teams in London and New York.”

It will also help its data science team “continue to pioneer machine learning, computer vision, AI and neural network techniques to power the platform’s search and personalisation algorithms.”

Chris Morton, co-founder and CEO, said the shift to digital means “this is a time of transformational change in the fashion industry.”