Rent the Runway acquires social style app Go Try It On

The deal marks Rent the Runway's first acquisition

Rent the Runway, the startup that lets women rent designer dresses for a fraction of the price, is expanding its footprint in the fashion tech world. The company announced its very first acquisition Tuesday: social style app Go Try It On. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Founded in late 2009, Go Try It On raised $3 million in a Series A round from Index Ventures and SPA Investments for its mobile style network. To recap: users can snap a photo of an outfit they like and post it to the community for feedback. Other users can vote on the outfit with “love it” or “change it” votes. Users can also choose exactly who sees the photo—whether they want to share it exclusively with close friends, the entire community, or just with style experts.

Rent the Runway CEO and co-founder Jennifer Hyman says the deal is both a talent and tech acquisition, and that Go Try It On CEO Marissa Evans will join Rent the Runway as Head of Radical Innovation—a newly created position.

“Her knowledge of the tech and fashion spaces will help this new team revolutionize the business going forward,” said Hyman.

Go Try It On has garnered 400,000 iPhone users to date who have generated 20 million opinions within the community.

So the bad news: Go Try It On is shutting down. There’s no word on how the tech will be put to use on the Rent the Runway platform.

Rent the Runway currently has over three million members and a selection that includes 35,000 dresses and 7,000 accessories from over 170 designers.

When it comes to fashion, social is critical, so it makes sense that Rent the Runway might want to build out its social component. To that end, last October the company unveiled a new feature that turns customers into real-body models, allowing other users to see how a dress fits on similar body types and what fashion accessories worked best with it.

In November, Rent the Runway raised $20 million from Conde Nast’s parent company Advance, Bain Capital Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company has raised $51 million altogether since launching in 2009.