The seed funding round was led by venture capital firm Benchstrength and included participation from investors Techstars, Black Tech Nation Ventures, and Slauson and Co.
The capital injection will help the company bring emerging brands to U.S. retailers from an e-commerce site that specializes in selling fashion from African brands and brands with diaspora roots to consumers around the world. It will help shift focus to business-to-business ventures.
“[Brands] They come to me for advice on how to expand their reach, how to get financing, how to hire talent on this side of the world,” says The Folklore founder and director. Chief Executive Officer Amira Rasool said. “We’re a small company, so we can’t succeed by doing two big things. So we decided to focus on the B2B route so we could have a bigger impact on our brand.”
As part of the company’s new direction, The Folklore Group launched in 2022 to help connect brands with partner retailers such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman. Integrates with Folklore Connect, a wholesale management software and marketplace. The company is also launching a recruiting platform and a service that allows brands to apply for purchase order financing and open lines of credit. Resource center for entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2018 and based in New York City, The Folklore’s latest investment brings it to $2.8 million in two pre-seed rounds, bringing its total funding to $6.2 million.
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