Trunk Club Secures $11 Million to Transform the Way Men Shop for Clothing

CHICAGO, Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Trunk Club, which offers an innovative clothing service for men who don't enjoy shopping, today announced that it has closed an $11 million Series A round of funding led by U.S. Venture Partners. Greycroft Partners, Apex Venture Partners, and Anthos Capital also participated in the round. The company plans to use the new funds to develop its technology platform, add to its team of Style Experts, and market to new customers.

Trunk Club offers brand-name casual wear to men around the country without any of the hassles of online shopping or brick-and-mortar retail. Customers share their preferences and clothing needs, then receive a selection of options handpicked for them by one of Trunk Club's Experts. Customers keep the items they like and send back the rest with a pre-paid shipping label. Trunk Club utilizes a standard wholesale-retail business model, so the service itself is complimentary. The clothing selections themselves are priced on par with higher-end department stores and boutiques.

"The traditional shopping experience doesn't work for most men, so we developed an efficient solution that takes away the pain and makes it easy to get awesome new clothes," said Brian Spaly, CEO of Trunk Club. "With the new round of funding, our Experts can do an even better job of providing personalized service to match customers' unique style preferences with incredible clothes from our vast selection of inventory."

"Trunk Club's innovative blend of personal service and technology has already disrupted the traditional men's retail experience both on and offline," explained Ted Maidenberg, partner at U.S. Venture Partners and Board Director at LivingSocial, another sales force driven startup.  "Trunk Club is well positioned to capture a huge, and largely ignored, market segment: guys who don't like shopping. Factor in Brian Spaly's successful track record as co-founder of Bonobos, and this becomes a very exciting investment for us."

Launch of TrunkClub.com customer center

In addition to its Series A funding, Trunk Club also announced the launch of its innovative customer center on www.trunkclub.com. With the launch, customers can now request additional orders on-demand based on current needs, provide detailed feedback on items in previous orders, and manage their clothing preferences in an easy-to-use online interface. Combined with Trunk Club's signature personal service, this unique self-serve functionality enables customers to experience Trunk Club however it is most convenient and effective for them.

The new technology platform also enables Trunk Club to utilize data around each customer's unique preferences to provide increasingly targeted recommendations with every subsequent order. "We use feedback data to make smart decisions about which items will work for that guy or guys like him in the future," says Spaly. "We get smarter and better with each subsequent trunk, which our customers love and which leads to a high value, long-term relationship for us."

With over 3,500 active clients, Trunk Club has already built a loyal following with a diverse group of professionals:

• Mike Gamson, SVP of Global Sales at LinkedIn – "I'd have to spend days bouncing between stores to find the great clothes Trunk Club sends my way. I just don't have the time or energy for that type of discovery mission."
• Jared Ailstock, Associate at Credit Suisse – "My Trunk Club Expert is so good at finding the right clothes for me that he's turned the things I need into clothes I actually want. It's awesome to open a box and think, 'I've never heard of this, but I love it'"
• Charles Warren, User Experience Lead at Google – "The best part about Trunk Club is cracking open the trunk at home with a couple of gin and tonics and trying the stuff on for my girlfriend."
• Mike Modano, NHL player - "I'm often traveling during the week and the last thing I want to do is spend my weekends shopping. Trunk Club has really helped me out, and all it takes is a quick email or call to get a new trunk."

About Trunk Club

Trunk Club is a personalized clothing service for men, offering handpicked designer clothing to customers without any of the hassles of shopping in stores or online. Based in Chicago's rapidly growing startup scene, the company is led by CEO Brian Spaly and has just over forty employees. Prior to Trunk Club, Brian founded men's online retailer Bonobos while a student at Stanford Business School. Visit www.trunkclub.com to learn more and order your first trunk!

About U.S. Venture Partners

U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) is a leading Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, helping entrepreneurs build world-class companies since 1981. USVP focuses on early stage opportunities in sectors where the Partners have the domain expertise, operating experience and network of relationships to contribute to the success of an enterprise.

About Apex Venture Partners

Apex Venture Partners, established in 1987, is one of the oldest venture capital firms in Mid-America. The firm has invested in over 150 companies throughout the United States in sectors such as IT, clean tech, tech-enabled consumer and business services.

About Anthos Capital

Anthos is a private Bay-Area investment firm that backs carefully-selected consumer growth companies.  The firm invests in exciting markets and companies with the following characteristics: rapid growth, breakout brands, category innovators, and visionary entrepreneurs.  Through their partnerships, Anthos helps entrepreneurs build great businesses and create substantial future value.  They serve as a value-added partner by providing unique access to their network of operating executives and drawing from extensive experience with some of the world's leading companies.  Anthos' approach is to invest exclusively on behalf of their principals and certain high net worth individuals, and provide entrepreneurs with a committed, long-term, non-institutional partner.

Contact: Stepanie Gnibus, 408-776-9727, [email protected]

SOURCE Trunk Club