New York’s startup fashion scene is trending among venture capitalists. Record amounts of funding are being raised, leading to two freshly minted billion-dollar companies in the past two weeks. And there are more waiting in the wings, buoyed by the convergence of online shopping and Instagram.
Glossier Inc., a direct-to-consumer skincare and makeup startup, and Rent the Runway Inc., an online service for borrowing designer fashions and accessories, announced last month that they’ve hit unicorn status after recent funding rounds. Wedding-planning platform Zola Inc. and luxury designer website Moda Operandi Inc. are both currently valued at around $650 million, PitchBook data shows, well ahead of where others have been before a final injection of capital vaulted them across the billion-dollar line.