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style goes in and out of elan , and it turn out , so do way startups . Lyst , a high - end way marketplace that was once appreciate at $ 700 million , has been acquired for just $ 154 million in Johnny Cash byZozo , a Japan - base style and e - commerce business .
Zozo own a number of fashion brands that admit Wear by Zozo , Zozotown , and Zozosuit , among others . You might have hear of Zozo for another reason , though : Its father Yusaku Maezawa once had the “ most retweeted tweet , ” when he promised to give away 100 million yen in cash for retweeting it .
Zozo said it will proceed to operate U.K.-based Lyst as a stand - alone business , and its current chief operating officer Emma McFerran is remain with the company .
Lyst selling for a price tag massively lower than its last valuation is a star sign of the time . The world of e - Commerce Department is facing striking levels of uncertainty , with Lyst dealing with headwinds from three unlike directions .
First , U.S. duty rise are conjure questions around the future of global trade , admit the impingement on smaller companies across the world that sell goods to U.S. consumer . well-nigh a third of London - found Lyst ’s gross currently derive from sales in the U.S.
Second , even before those tariffs became an issue , Lyst was face monumental competition in on-line mode not just from other specialist outlets , but also behemoths like Amazon and Temu .
Third , engineering investors today have overindexed massively on anything to do with artificial intelligence operation . That has put a lot of pressure on companies that arenotin that space to show similar outgrowth trajectories , plus ontogenesis narrative that comprise AI in some way .
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Lyst and Zozo seem to have gotten the memo . The pair will be “ Transforming the Future of Fashion Discovery through AI and Technology , ” the party prominently note in their declaration . That phrasal idiom is observe again in the waiver , but there are no specific details of what that will signify .
In addition to a beachhead in the U.K. , the heap also have Zozo an international business organization . Lyst said it has customers in 190 grocery , with 30 % of its stage business come from the U.S. , 24 % from the U.K. , and 34 % from Europe .
Lyst has lean into the long tail of fashion brand collection in a market model : It claims to offer product from 27,000 steel , including both designers and retail merchant . The inclination include Prada , Gucci , Bottega Veneta , Valentino , Miu Miu , Coach , Michael Kors , Hugo Boss , Selfridges , Harvey Nichols , and Harrods .
The company was one of the winners of the atomic number 99 - commerce boom during and just after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic . When it raised$85 million in May 2021 , Lyst gained a valuation of around $ 700 million . Fidelity led that round , and other big - name investor in the company admit Accel , Balderton , and Molten ( formerly Draper Esprit ) . The company at the time even report the backing as a pre - IPO turn .
However , not only did the IPO window slam shut a few months later , but a heap of the increase e - commerce troupe saw during that period speedily puncture as consumers pass to their pre - pandemic spending habits . And then investors moved on to the next big thing , AI .
The fashion due east - Commerce Department market has remained unmanageable .
A spokesperson explicate that Lyst ’s 160 million user are “ yearly unique users , ” but that figure of speech includes participating shopper as well as those just windowpane - shopping . It ’s tough to know how successful the company ’s rebirth strategy ( important for e - commerce company ) has been . In 2022 , Lystlaid off 25 % of its staff . And it has not been alone . Farfetch , another big name in high - mode e - commerce , hasnosedivedsince the pandemic .
Lyst recorded receipts of £ 50.1 million ( $ 64 million ) in the year end March , 31 , 2024 , largely the same as its gross from the yr before ( £ 50 million ) , per its most recent Companies House filings in December 2024 .
Lyst continued to send a net loss in that clip , but it did carry off to narrow it drastically over that year to £ 510,000 from £ 23.7 million a class before . It also posted an run profit before revenue enhancement of £ 443,000 . A spokesperson noted that Lyst post $ 1 million in EBITDA in its last audited business relationship .
“ This is an exciting second for Lyst , and a win - win for our fashion ecosystem of shoppers and partner as we move forward as part of ZOZO Group , ” McFerran say in a statement .
Now the question will be whether getting better economies of scale with Zozo will give Lyst the lift it need to turn this around .
