Online marketplace CustomMade announced this morning that it has raised $18 million in new funding, led by Atlas Venture and by previous investor Google Ventures. The round was joined by Schooner Capital, Next View Ventures, First Round Capital and Launch Capital.
CustomMade is a marketplace for craft goods, made custom to order. The company has raised $24 million. Founded in 1996, the company has exploded in recent years to today include 12,000 "makers" on the platform.
Atlas's Fred Destin and Google's Rich Miner will both join the board.
For Atlas, the deal is notable both because it's the first investment out of the new fund, and because it comes at the Series B, later than the firm's usual seed and A investments. But CustomMade is tapping into a novel but growing source of value; in an age of globalization and commoditization, craftsmanship is seen as a source of value for high end customers in sectors like beer, agriculture, and more. CustomMade is betting that it can do the same with a much wider variety of goods.
“When we launched CustomMade, we wanted to tap a vein of demand for products that have a deeper meaning for both the buyers and the makers of those products,”says CustomMade CEO Mike Salguero. “As we see the marketplace for our buyers and makers’ projects steadily grow, we have redoubled our commitment to that vision.”
The company also announced that Jim Haughwout, previously of AOL, had taken the top tech position at CustomMade, as SVP Engineering & Ops. No details were given as to how the new round will be spent.
