“Investing in the digital commerce revolution” is the motto of Forerunner Ventures, with $40 million one of the biggest early phase e-commerce funds which is run exclusively by women ("The Woman Behind Warby Parker, Birchbox, and Bonobos Now Has $40M More To Drop On E-Commerce Startups"):
"Yep, Forerunner Ventures is the rare tech investment firm run entirely by women. But that misses the point.
Kind of like the way most male venture capitalists missed the online-retailing revolution."
The portfolio is advanced and hardly contains any of the overhyped e-commerce models which are currently enamoring many of the male dominated venture firms.
Forerunner’s investment strategy should be illuminating for anyone interested in the future of e-commerce.
Particularly well presented is the spring from early e-commerce models to the new e-commerce landscape (PDF):
From Exciting Commerce’s perspective, the biggest potential nowadays is what Forerunner calls “Connected Brands”. In other words, online driven brands such as Bonobos and Modcloth, who have evolved differently than contemporary brands and still have what it takes to become the next GAP, Zara or H&M.
The female target market in particular harbors huge untapped potential.
The needs of the female market have been largely ignored in the current e-commerce landscape. Lost revenues in the German e-commerce sector alone is between 2 to 3 billion Euro annually, according to Exciting Commerce’s calculations (German link).
Related posts:
- Gender Innovation: How do women shop online?
- Women as Drivers of Innovation for E-commerce
- The Big Shift and The Future of the Feminine Archetype
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.