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Gilt Groupe Secures $5.0 Million in Series A Expansion Capital
Online Sample Sale Gains Rapid Following by Providing Access to Luxury and Fashion Brands at Preferred Pricing
NEW YORK (November 27, 2007) – Today Gilt Groupe (www.gilt.com), which brings invitation
only ‘sample sales’ to its national membership, announced that it has secured $5.0 million in
financing from top venture capital firm Matrix Partners.. The ‘sample sale’, a New York
phenomenon where consumers line up around the block on a single day to buy top designer items
at steep discounts, is now available for the first time online and to shoppers nationally through
Gilt Groupe.
Gilt Groupe was founded in mid 2007 by CEO Alexis Maybank, former eBay and AOL
executive, and CMO Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, former Louis Vuitton and Bulgari executive. Gilt
Groupe features up to three top designer sales per week, and each sale lasts just one day on its
website. The Company features brands from American designers like Zac Posen and Marchesa to
Italian designers like Alessandro Dell’Acqua.
Working directly with the designer or brand, Gilt Groupe ensures the best product mix and often
showcases top end designers who never discount their products or sell online. Membership is by
referral, and there is no fee associated with joining Gilt Groupe. The existing membership base
hails from all 50 states and since the Company’s November launch multiple thousands of
members join daily.
“Consumers flock en masse to New York sample sales and are passionately committed to their
favorite brands,” explained Maybank. “Gilt Groupe brings the sample sale phenomenon and hard-
to-access brands to all consumers nationally for the first time, and we offer the sales exclusively
online. Consumers who have always heard of ‘sample sales’, but have never been able to attend
one, can now do so through our site”.
As a result of the financing, Nicholas Beim, General Partner at Matrix Partners, will join the
board of directors of Gilt Groupe
About Gilt Groupe
Headquartered in New York, Gilt Groupe is a privately held company dedicated to providing its
members with access to coveted fashion and luxury lifestyle brands at sample sale prices. Gilt
Groupe hand selects both established and up and coming brands relevant to its membership base.
Each Gilt Groupe Shopping Event is designer-specific and held over a one day period. The Gilt
Groupe production team creates a short video reel to introduce each designer and brand to its
membership. There is no fee associated with joining Gilt Groupe; membership is by invitation
only. Investors include leading venture capital firm Matrix Partners and prominent private
investors such as Kevin Ryan, former CEO, DoubleClick, and Dwight Merriman, former CTO
and Founder, DoubleClick.