Weddington Way Closes $9M in Series A Round

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Weddington Way (www.weddingtonway.com), a collaborative shopping site for weddings, today announced that it has closed a $9M Series A financing round. Javelin Venture Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Battery Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Trinity Ventures. With $11.5M raised to date, Weddington Way continues to attract high-profile backers, further validating the company's potential to dramatically improve the wedding related e-commerce experience with its unique platform for collaborative commerce. Strategic investors in Weddington Way include luminaries in the retail/brand space such as Bonobos Founder/CEO Andy Dunn, Nixon's Founder/Executive Chairman Andy Laats, Lululemon Athletica Board Member RoAnn Costin and former Gap CEO Bob Fisher.

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The funding will be used to grow the Weddington Way team, invest in innovation to enhance the collaborative commerce experience across devices and to drive Weddington Way's customer growth and brand development.  

"Each new infusion of capital is also a tremendous vote of confidence in our business model, our technology, and the experience we're delivering to our customers – which is of paramount importance to us," said Ilana Stern, Founder and CEO of Weddington Way. "We are excited to have this added opportunity to continue to grow our team, and further expand our offering within the wedding space."

Weddington Way seeks to close the divide between traditional retail practices and millennial shoppers – an increasingly influential buying audience more than $600B strong. Founder Ilana Stern saw a need to deliver a more socially-driven e-commerce experience for millennial brides, who are busy, tech-savvy, and need to shop and communicate with friends and family around the globe. Weddington Way offers a uniquely collaborative, highly personalized platform for online shopping. The site recreates a completely interactive online shopping space for brides to find everything they need to plan their wedding style, with the help of their bridal party and other family members. Weddington Way shipped over 25,000 dresses to customers in 2013 and already exceeded that number in the first half of 2014.  More than one million brides and bridesmaids have shopped together on Weddington Way since 2012.

"Javelin invests in innovative technology companies that are disrupting large industries," said Alex Gurevich, Partner at Javelin Venture Partners. "Weddington Way is overhauling the retail experience for weddings, and has created a truly interactive, collaborative shopping space for brides and bridesmaids.  We believe Weddington Way is best positioned to disrupt the outdated wedding retail industry and become the premier wedding e-commerce destination."

"There is a major disconnect between what the traditional retail industry offers and what digitally-connected millennials want. In the bridal space, Weddington Way is the answer. It's simple, it's digital, and it's tasteful. It's a game-changer," said Andy Dunn, founder and CEO of Bonobos. "I think Ilana is a superb entrepreneur, and have been tracking her since she interned at Bonobos years ago. While digital models are exciting, they are incredibly defensible once they're built because the execution has to be incredible, and it rarely is. Weddington Way is off to an exceptional start and I'm excited to be investing for a second time in the company."

About Javelin Venture Partners:  

With $335 million under management, Javelin Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm specializing in technology based start-ups that leverage key innovations to create scalable, high-growth companies. Javelin Ventures Partners is located in San Francisco, CA, but invests in start-ups throughout the world. Visit www.javelinvp.com.

About Weddington Way: 

Based in San Francisco, CA, Weddington Way (www.weddingtonway.com) is a collaborative shopping site for wedding parties.  Over one million brides and bridesmaids have shopped together on Weddington Way since 2012.  Our mission is to become the "go to" brand for millennial women for everything they need to buy for their wedding.  At Weddington Way, bridal parties can browse the largest assortment of bridesmaid dresses available online and share and discuss products in a virtual showroom.  By offering a collaborative experience, personalization, and its signature line of ready-to-wear dresses, Weddington Way is differentiated from anything else that exists today to serve millennial brides.  

SOURCE Weddington Way