Dia&Co Secures $40M in Series C Financing Round
Plus-size retail firm Dia&Co has raised $40 million in new financing that brings its aggregate raise to $95 million.
The Series C round of $40 million was led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital. Sequoia led its Series B round of $30 million. The total funding since the firm’s founding in 2015 is $95 million.
The company was founded by Nadia Boujarwah and Lydia Gilbert. Rebecca Kaden of Union Square will join the firm’s board of directors, alongside existing director Alfred Lin of Sequoia.
As for Sequoia’s participation in the B and C rounds, Lin described the opportunity in the plus-size category as “massive.” Lin also said what made Dia&Co unique compared with others in the space was its “mission to revolutionize every aspect of the shopping experience for plus-size women from the marketing to the inventory to the highly engaged community the company has attracted.”
Dia&Co also said that Francis Nzeuton joined the company as chief financial officer. He had led the finance team at Amazon, and most recently led finance for Amazon’s U.S. consumables business.
According to Boujarwah, “Sixty-seven percent of the population wear plus sizes, which starts at size 14.” She noted that the company, as a direct-to-consumer retail service, works with 100 brands, and has created 10 of its own private label brands for its site. Price points vary, ranging from $30 to $200 on the high end and the average in the $50 to $60 range.
The cofounder said the service is “flexible,” giving women some options for however they want to shop on the site. There is also a subscription plan.
The company’s aim is to build out “community and commerce” for its shoppers. “The community is about advocacy and change. If this woman is coming into the mainstream, then seeing her represented in mainstream media and retail is important,” Boujarwah said.
She added that, so far, the site has over 4 million users.
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