SanomaVentures invests in Vault79.com

SanomaVentures is investing in Dutch luxury fashion

auction website Vault79.com. SanomaVentures did not disclose the amount of this investment, but Vault79.com is the first investment by the company founded in 2012.

“The partnership with Sanoma provides us with a fantastic platform for launching Vault79’s further growth. Our concept and Sanoma’s reach and knowledge really serve to reinforce one another,” says Michiel Muller, one of Vault79’s initiators.

Herman Kienhuis, Investment Director at SanomaVentures: “Vault79.com takes a new, dynamic approach to mining the potential of the high-growth e-commerce market for fashion. The experienced team, the results achieved during the start-up phase and the international potential make this an extremely interesting participating interest for SanomaVentures.”

Vault79, founded in 2011, is the first online fashion auction website in the Netherlands that auctions high-end designer brands such as Chloé, Mulberry, Fendi, Céline and Marc Jacobs. The auctioned items are initially offered at a low price, after which Vault79 members can bid on the designer items online, thus determining the price themselves.

Initiators Schröder and Muller are actively involved in setting up various new projects, and are known as hands-on investors. Earlier this year, together with Van der Klooster, Schröder and Muller invested in the social media platform Fashiolista.

SanomaVentures is the venturing arm of Sanoma, aimed at investing and supporting the development of young enterprises in online commerce, media, marketing and education. Sanoma is an European media and learning group with activities in over twenty countries.