Kim Kardashian. Photo: Getty
Kim Kardashian’s Instagram-favorite brand Skims has received a megawatt valuation of $3.2 billion just two years after launch, following a new $240 million Series B funding round.
The round was led by Lone Pine Capital, with additional participation from D1, and existing investors Thrive Capital, Imaginary Ventures and Alliance Consumer Growth. Skims, best known for its waist-cinching nude shapewear and underwear that stretches twice its size, will use the funds to accelerate its retail and brand partnerships as well as product innovation, according to the company.
Since its foundation as a shapewear brand in 2019, Skims has expanded into loungewear in 2019 and sleepwear in 2021. Kardashian co-founded the brand with entrepreneur Jens Grede. His wife, and Skims founding partner, Emma Grede, is also the co-founder of Khloé Kardashian’s Good American denim line.
Skims launched its first pop-up store in Galeries Lafayette. Photo: Getty
With 3.6 million followers on Instagram, Skims sits alongside Kardashian’s other brands, KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance. Following the most recent valuation, Skims has eclipsed Kardashian’s cosmetics empire: she sold 20% of her beauty and fragrance company to Coty in 2021 for $200 million, valuing it at $1 billion.
Skims originally launched as an online direct-to-consumer brand and has since expanded to mainstream luxury stockists from Selfridges and Ssense to Net-a-Porter and Nordstrom. In November, its body-contouring clothes got the Fendi seal of approval, with a collaborative collection spanning shapewear, hosiery, ready-to-wear, beachwear and accessories. In January, Skims released its second capsule for Team USA, after the first — worn by Team USA athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 — sold out in just 24 hours.
Originally published in Voguebusiness.com
