GlamCorner (www.glamcorner.com.au) has closed a Seed funding round from AirTree Ventures.
GlamCorner rents designer label dresses for special occasions and events at a fraction of the retail price.
The etailer offers over 500 dresses designed by the likes of Camilla, Tadashi Shoji and Badgley Mischka.
The Seed funding will be used to invest in technology, acquire more dresses to rent and build out a high quality team to support husband and wife co-founders Dean Jones and Audrey Khaing-Jones.
AirTree Partner Craig Blair said the success of overseas designer rental players such as Rent the Runway demonstrate the potential of this business model.
"We felt that the GlamCorner team were doing it best here in Australia; they have thousands of customers nationwide, three times the inventory and social following of their nearest competitors and have achieved impressive growth rates since their 2012 launch.
"The rental model taps into the sharing economy, providing customers with meaningfully better value and variety so GlamCorner is well placed to play a significant role in the $500 million online women’s clothing market in Australia," says Blair.
GlamCorner offers a try on service, provides prepaid express post satchels for return shipping and takes care of dry cleaning and minor repairs.
"Execution is actually quite complex when compared with typical eCommerce businesses as the logistics piece is both outbound and inbound and there are some unique facets to the technology platform and customer experience," Blair said.
GlamCorner will also undertake a branding exercise in the coming months to ensure its brand image and attributes are aligned with its growing customer base.
"We are fortunate to have a large organic component to our web and mobile traffic and a very loyal social following. In the coming months we plan to supplement this with more concerted paid marketing efforts," Jones said.
Co-founder Audrey Khaing-Jones said inventory changes are also in the pipeline.
"GlamCorner has a great stable of brands and we plan to add other in-demand Australian, international and emerging labels as well as increase the depth of our range across all size categories.
"We find that most designers love working with us as we help them reach women who aspire to wear their brands without compromising their brand equity.
"We think there is also potential for us to expand into segments such as bags and fashion accessories and bridesmaid dress rental. We want to be every Australian woman’s endless online wardrobe."