Flash sales site ideeli rakes in $41M

The company gets support from Next World, Cue Ball, and previous investors

It’s impossible to cover a flash sales site like ideeli or Gilt Groupe quickly and efficiently, because you go check out the site and next thing you know, you’ve been sucked into a sales vortex of no return. An hour later, you’re still browsing the sales—because they’re going to expire any minute and if you don’t see them all right now, you might miss them! And then that reminds you to check all the other flash sales sites you have a membership with...

So that’s been my morning ever since ideeli.com announced that it has raised a sizable $41 million in Series C financing led by Next World Capital, with help from Cue Ball Capital and existing investors StarVest Partners, Constellation Growth Capital, and Kodiak Venture Partners. The new capital brings ideeli’s total raised to $64.8 million.

Founded in 2007, the flash sales site has more than four million members, who are no doubt drawn by the promise of steep discounts on designer clothes. Sales events start at 11 am EST and new brands are featured each day with discounts of up to 80%.

The range of sales that the site offers is pretty impressive, so it’s little wonder it has drawn so many members. Indeed, the range of sales rivals those of Gilt Groupe. Additionally, ideeli allows you to customize your shopping experience so that you only see the sales that you’re interested in. The company plans to use the new funds to launch several new initiatives, including category expansion, partnerships, technology enhancements, marketing campaigns, and hiring.

“Ideeli has built an organization with strong values and processes that satisfy brand partners while growing sales at a very impressive rate; an incredible accomplishment” said Sebastien Lepinard, founder and managing partner at Next World. “Having longstanding experience in mass-retailing, we fully appreciate the power of ideeli's value proposition to consumers: appealing products in a dynamic online environment while offering great value.”

Lepinard will be joining ideeli’s board of directors. 

Image source: ideeli.com