See Pitch Deck That Verishop Fashion Startup Used to Raise $40 Million

• Verishop, an online marketplace for independent and emerging brands, launched in 2018.
• Verishop was cofounded by former Snap exec Imran Khan and ex-Quidsi head Cate Khan.
• Read the 16-page pitch deck the founders used to raise a $40 million Series B round in July.

When former Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan and his wife, former Quidsi head Cate Khan, founded Verishop in 2018, they sought to create a marketplace that offered assistance to luxury brands, a clientele they felt had been largely overlooked by bigger online retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

“We wanted to create a platform that connects these independent and emerging brands with their fans and customers,” Khan told Insider.

Verishop operates as an online marketplace where shoppers can purchase items from independent and emerging luxury brands on their desktop and mobile devices. The marketplace includes features like feeds for collections and items; the ability to livestream; an AI-driven recommendation engine; and the patented Shop Party, which enables groups of shoppers to shop together through group video chat. The startup takes a cut from each transaction.

Over 3,000 brands selling more than $1 billion in inventory are now sold through Verishop, from the coastal living-inspired men’s line Banks Journal to Veda, a women’s ready-to-wear collection with a focus on fitted leather jackets. As Verishop has grown, so have the solutions it offers creators, which now include feeds and livestreaming.

Verishop raised a $40 million Series B round in July led by Lion Capital, which will be used to expand the startup’s features and capabilities. And while it’s likely the startup could see its employee numbers grow, Khan doesn’t like to talk headcount on that front.

“Having more headcount is not the solution — improving productivity is the most important thing,” Khan said. “I don’t think that’s the right way to think about a business. That’s how you end up a bloated organization. To me, it’s like, what are the problems you’re trying to solve, and how fast are we going to solve the problem?”

Here’s the 16-page pitch deck Verishop used to raise its $40 million Series B round: