Lyst raises £60mln as it eyes market debut

Fashion shopping app Lyst has raised US$85mln (£60mln) in its latest funding round ahead of a potential IPO in London or New York. It values the UK-based startup, which operates both in Europe and the US, at US$700mln (£496mln). READ: Second-hand clothes marketplace Vinted valued at £3bn in latest funding round The online platform now counts 150mln users, with a catalogue of 8mln products from 17,000 brands. The gross merchandise value was over US$500mln, TechCrunch reported, with new user numbers up 1,100%. Lyst is an aggregator where users can access multiple online shops at the same time, so they can browse different brands. It is backed by Fidelity International, Novator Capital, Giano Capital and C4 Ventures, as well as luxury giant LVMH. “Lyst is rapidly becoming a fashion category leader, which hundreds of millions of fashion lovers rely on to decide what to buy,” said Chris Morton, chief executive and founder. “While our app and website already enjoy very large audiences in the USA & Europe, fashion e-commerce remains under-penetrated in general, with huge growth potential globally. We’re excited to use this raise from top-tier investors to continue personalising the fashion shopping experience to each of our millions of customers, while helping our partner brands thrive.”