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July 18, 2006
a:c euro exclusive: Spreadshirt Raises Series A From Accel Partners
We had posted on Spreadshirt recently and now have an exclusive on its first round of funding. The amount of Series A funding is undisclosed. As part of the deal, Accel’s Harry Nelis joins the Spreadshirt board of directors and Judy Gibbons, formally corporate VP in Microsoft MSN’s Division, joins as advisor.
Spreadshirt is Europe’s answer to the US custom printed product start-ups that have been terrific success stories. The grand-daddy is Café Press, which is Seqouia Capital’s dog in the pit which goes up against Kleiner Perkins’ Zazzle.
Spreadshirt was founded in 2002 in Leipzig, Germany by Lukasz Gadowski. Mark E. Seremet has joined Spreadshirt as its North American head. He was the co-founder of Take Two (nasdaq:ttwo) - the publisher of Grand Theft Auto.
Read - Spreadshirt's User Generated Shop (a:c euro)
Read - The Web T-shirt Contest (a:c)
SPREADSHIRT SECURE FIRST ROUND INVESTMENT
Online market place for customized products Spreadshirt announces completion of series A funding for further Expansion
17 July 2006: Europe’s leading marketplace for customized products Spreadshirt today announced the completion of series A funding from Accel Partners, a technology focused private equity firm based in London and Silicon Valley. The undisclosed sum means Spreadshirt becomes the first European company of its kind to receive venture capital funding.
Spreadshirt produce and supply personalised merchandise which customers can design and order online. The business is one of the most successful and innovative of its kind in Europe and includes features such as ‘create your own shop’, allowing website owners to design and sell their own range of customised merchandise. Spreadshirt members have created over 5 million unique products on customizable merchandise ranging from t-shirts and hats accessories to mugs and mousemats.
Spreadshirt also have a vibrant network of over 200,000 shop partners including private individuals, charity organisations, artists and corporations who can create merchandise with their own designs on a range of over 70 printable items. Setting up and managing a shop is simple and free and, shop partners can set their own prices for every item sold through their shop. Examples of shop partners include:
The Guardian cartoon shop – selling t-shirts with work from satirical cartoonists Steve Bell, Martin Rowson, Nicola Jennings, Harry Venning and Stephen Appleby
Couchcartofelsalat – selling apparel and underwear with the popular ‘Ulkbaer’ designs from German based comedian Falk
Hellomagazine.com – selling their own branded t-shirts and offering a design your own t-shirt option
Jerkassclothing.com – a t-shirt company powered by Spreadshirt offering unique t-shirts with comic slogans and designs.
As part of the deal, Accel’s Harry Nelis joins the Spreadshirt board of directors and Judy Gibbons, formally corporate vice president in Microsoft MSN’s Division, joins as advisor.
Current board members include: founder & CEO Lukasz Gadowski an entrepreneur and active private investor in the online market and founder & CTO Matthias Spiess previously director of product development for the CRM systems provider Llynch Meta Media.
Founder and CEO Lukasz Gadowski said of the funding: “Spreadshirt is already present in twelve countries and we intend to spend the additional funds on improving our services and strengthening our presence in international markets. In addition a flagship offline Spreadshirt store has just been launched in Berlin that we hope to develop and build. ”
Harry Nelis, Accel partner and Spreadshirt board member said: “Spreadshirt are a very exciting company who challenge the imagination of their clients whilst simultaneously offering them a reliable and easy to manage platform from which to run their own business. This kind of innovative thinking and passion is exactly what Accel are looking to invest in and grow.”
“I’m very excited to work with Accel” Michael Petersen, CFO and VP of Sales at Spreadshirt commented “besides the reputation and experience especially the global scope of Accel as well as Harry Nelis as a person convinced us, that Accel is the right partner for Spreadshirt.”
Ends
Note to editors:
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long legacy of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business. The firm is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs to build world-class Internet, software and networking companies. Accel Partners has more than $4bn under management from its offices in Palo Alto and London, and its portfolio companies have completed IPOs that have created well over $150 billion in market capitalisation. Representative current and former investments include Brightcove, Comscore, Double Fusion, Facebook, Glam, Macromedia, RealNetworks, and The Cloud. For more information visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com
For more information about Accel Partners please contact:
Emma Ap-Thomas (00) +44 207 025 6533 emma.ap-thomas@redconsultancy.com
About Spreadshirt:
Founded in 2002, Leipzig-based Spreadshirt offers an online marketplace for customised products. The online shop system lets every website owner to create a branded shop of customised textiles without setup costs or minimum sales. Nearly 120,000 shop partners take advantage of this offer, with users ranging from large companies, organisations, artists and private individuals. Large companies make use of the extensive, customised merchandise services. End customers can design and order individualised textiles “on demand” online. Spreadshirt currently has over 200 employees.
For more information as well as current press releases, please see www.spreadshirt.net
Posted on July 18, 2006 10:54 PM | Posted to eCommerce | Permalink
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The alarm:clock euro broke the news last night. In this little video I had a chat as back as early may with Spreadshirt's founder CEO about this deal :) Published here with his permission. You'll see how he launched this [Read More]
Tracked on July 19, 2006 01:46 PM
