The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
"Indian E-Commerce Startup Flipkart Just Reportedly Raised Billion in Funding" (Quartz)
"Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce company founded in 2007 by two Amazon alumni, will announce that it has raised $1 billion in fresh funding, reports The Economic Times, an Indian business newspaper, citing 'two people aware of the development.'"
"Apple R&D Spike Hints at New Products" (The Financial Times)
"As people familiar with the situation have indicated to the Financial Times and others, this year's hot new product will be a wearable device that tracks fitness and allows remote control of a tethered smartphone. Sources say the device is in fact unlikely to be called the iWatch, despite Apple having filed to trademark that term last year."
"Threadflip Raises $13 Million in Series B, Plans To Grow Workforce by 40%" (TechCrunch)
"Threadflip, the online consignment marketplace for women's clothing, announced $13 million in Series B funding today. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, with participation from previous investors Baseline Ventures, First Round Capital and Shasta Ventures. This latest infusion now brings the total funding for Threadflip up to $21.1 million."
"Facebook Explains Why It Wants to Be a Retail Store" (Wired)
"Last week, Mark Zuckerberg and company started testing a 'Buy' button inside the News Feed posts and ads that turn up on the world's most popular social network, letting users instantly pay for goods and services from other merchants without leaving Facebook."
"Chomping at the (Fit)Bit: Xiaomi Released a $13 Fitness Tracker" (Pando Daily)
"Xiaomi started off as a smartphone-maker that offered well-designed products for a fraction of the cost of its better-known competitors. Then it released a smart television set that led Pando to label it "one of the world's most interesting tech companies." Today it took another step forward with the Mi Band, a fitness band that also acts as an authenticator to unlock a smartphone without a password. It claims a 30-day battery life and only costs $13."
The nature of livestream transactions makes it hard to identify and weed out counterfeits and fakes despite growth of new technologies aimed at detecting infringement.
The extraordinary expectations placed on the technology have set it up for the inevitable comedown. But that’s when the real work of seeing whether it can be truly transformative begins.
Successful social media acquisitions require keeping both talent and technology in place. Neither is likely to happen in a deal for the Chinese app, writes Dave Lee.
TikTok’s first time sponsoring the glitzy event comes just as the US effectively deemed the company a national security threat under its current ownership, raising complications for Condé Nast and the gala’s other organisers.