HURR, the London-based fashion rental marketplace described as the ‘Airbnb for fashion’, has raised £7.9m ($10m).
The investment round has been led by Praetura Ventures and existing investors including Octopus Ventures.
CEO Victoria Prew came up with the idea for HURR in 2017 when she realised the demand for fast fashion was bad news for sustainability.
Her solution was to encourage women to rent clothes instead of buying and Prew’s tech-first platform rapidly took an idea and made it into a movement.
Revealing the news on LinkedIn, Prew described the latest investment round as a ‘milestone’ she’d ‘remember for the rest of my life’.
Writing yesterday she revealed: “Today we announce a strategic investment from Praetura Ventures – bringing our total funding to $10m.
“I’ve hardly had a chance to catch my breath before it’s been straight back to work!
“In one of the toughest fundraising markets, I’ll be forever grateful to team HURR for holding the fort whilst this became my full-time job and for our new (and existing) investors for their belief in the HURR hybrid business model.
“Combining our incredible peer-to-peer community whilst also powering rental for 130+ of your favourite fashion brands and the UK’s four biggest retailers.
“I am so unbelievably proud. We do what we do because HURR is the next-big-thing in fashion and the time for shift from ownership to access needs to happen ASAP.
“With 2 per cent of VC funding going to female founders, today we share this news so the next generation of entrepreneurs know that through sheer grit and determination it can be possible.
“We’ll be announcing some pretty major plans in the coming months but for now… it’s time to rest and take one minute to step back and recognise what we’ve been able to achieve.”
Praetura Ventures said they were delighted to add HURR to their growing portfolio of companies.
“Taking advantage of the demand among consumers to rent high fashion pieces, HURR is continuing to establish itself in fashion, with major partnerships with luxury brands such as NET-A-PORTER,” said a spokesman.
“The company’s founder Victoria Prew has raised $10m from ourselves and the company’s existing investors.
“We’re incredibly excited to be working with Victoria and being part of the latest chapter in HURR’s growth story.”
In 2021 HURR raised £4m in a seed funding raise led by European VC firm, Octopus Ventures, which has backed other circular economy leaders including peer-to-peer resale platform Depop, food-sharing app OLIO and toy subscription service Whirli.