London-based Cult Mia, the online marketplace for sustainable and conscious luxury fashion, has secured 2.5 million pounds in seed funding to "supercharge its growth".

Founded in 2019 by entrepreneur Nina Briance, Cult Mia offers a values-driven curated marketplace for consumers to discover unique and limited-edition independent fashion from around the world from brands that are sustainable and ethical.

In four years, it has grown into an established platform that takes home more than double the profit per order compared to its competitors, explains Cult Mia, as customer acquisition cost is 31 percent more efficient than peers, along with a return rate of 16 percent, which is below the industry average.

These stats resulted in an “oversubscribed seed round,” added the platform, raising 2.5 million pounds led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from luxury fashion investor David Wertheimer, Morgan Stanley and WomanKind Ventures, which backs women-led start-ups.

Cult Mia founder and CEO Nina Briance Credits: Cult Mia

Commenting on the investment, Nina Briance, founder and chief executive of Cult Mia, said in a statement: “This backing points to the future of online luxury platforms lying with distinctive, curated, values-driven fashion. I believe that we have found the leading strategic partners in our space: deep marketplace scaling expertise, unique financial sponsorship and support from the most reputable institutions and backing from fashion royalty.

“I’m humbled by this investor line-up and truly energised for the next stages of Cult Mia's growth journey.”

Fuel Ventures, Morgan Stanley and WomanKind Ventures invest in Cult Mia

Cult Mia said it will use the investment to further advance automating its platform technology to increase efficiencies in acquiring and retaining customers. It also has plans to expand its core team to cover new products and services planned to roll out in 2024.

In addition, Cult Mia will focus on its tech IP to continue putting the platform “way ahead of the competition both for brands and shoppers via a product-to-market that is quicker than fast fashion, while guaranteeing sustainability”.

Cult Mia campaign imagery Credits: Cult Mia

Mark Pearson, founder and managing partner at Fuel Ventures, said: "Cult Mia's sector is one we have been looking at for several months, and we've passed on a selection of opportunities where we felt the unit economics were not strong enough or that there was not enough of a USP compared to the existing players.

“Cult Mia's long-term vision and focus on long-term relationships, both with the platform's brands and customers, excites us and speaks to our experience working with marketplaces previously. We've watched such significant growth in the luxury marketplace space but have never really been keen to involve ourselves. Why? Because the majority of companies we've seen have had poor margins and the same stock as the major players. We've never been convinced that's a space for us. We really feel like what Cult Mia is building allows us to enter this space with real confidence."

Cult Mia campaign imagery Credits: Cult Mia

Sanghamitra Karra, managing director and EMEA head of the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Group, added: “We have been impressed by Cult Mia’s attractive platform, providing a high-quality experience to customers from over 42 countries. Cult Mia has built an impressive footprint of over 320 independent brands and partnered with eminent fashion authorities in its first few years.

“Nina and the team bring a dynamic, values-driven approach to the business and have grown Cult Mia impressively since its founding in 2019.”