This round follows a strong two years for Material Exchange, having been approached in 2020 by the largest global denim trade show, Kingpins, to develop a digital denim marketplace in place of the physical show. The success of this partnership spurred the company to focus on building and scaling the marketplace more aggressively. It also led to Material Exchange’s acquisition of marketing, consultancy, and event firm Olah Inc - which operates the Kingpins Shows - in October 2021.
The round was led by Molten, with participation from previous seed investors including Partech, Inventure, Norrsken, Lyra, and Day One Capital
Darren Glenister, CEO and Co-founder of Material Exchange, said:
“With this round, we’re able to accelerate our mission of leading the global revolution to sustainable, transparent apparel and footwear material sourcing by aggregating fragmented data into one digital solution. We believe the shift will ultimately have the greatest impact for brands and suppliers as well as end-consumers.”
Nicola McClafferty, Partner, Molten Ventures added:
“With Material Exchange, we see a significant and largely untapped opportunity in digitizing the highly complex and offline fashion supply chain,” says Nicola McClafferty, Partner at Molten Ventures. “The need for transparency and sustainability as well as ongoing supply chain disruptions are proving to be powerful forces for accelerating the structural trend of digitization of sourcing workflows for both brands and suppliers in the apparel industry.
“We have been impressed not only by the early successes with leading brands and suppliers, but also by the team’s approach to building and owning this category. Such an understanding of the intricacies and complexities of the fashion supply chain can only come from a team of industry veterans, and having gotten to know Darren and the team, we have developed real conviction that this is an opportunity, approach, and team to back.”
