Cincinnati styling startup Cladwell was one of eight companies from across the U.S. to receive investment as part of the latest Indie.vc cohort.
Cladwell provides online personal styling recommendations with a twist. Instead of a stylist making commission off recommended clothing purchases like subscription-box service Stitchfix, Cladwell stylists make recommendations based on what’s already in a user’s closet. The company receives revenue from user subscriptions.
Cladwell was founded in Silicon Valley in 2013. But early last year, investor pressure put the company on the chopping block. Local fashion entrepreneur Erin Flynn had been working for Cladwell since 2015. Instead of letting the company shutter, Flynn and her husband Colin decided to buy it in August 2019.
It is now a remote business, with Flynn operating as CEO and her husband as COO. Flynn previously told Cincy Inno that she hopes to eventually open an official office for Cladwell in Cincinnati.
Indie.vc is a program designed to fund and support founders on a path to profitability. The firm believes that many businesses could flourish if they focused on revenue growth over raising another round of funding. Indie.vc aims to be the last investment founders need to take.
The exact size of Indie’s investment in Cladwell was not disclosed, but the firm said that its average investment check size for this cohort was around $400,000.
In previous years, Indie has offered entrepreneurs at least two months to apply to their program. But this time around, the firm took a very different approach. It gave entrepreneurs just 24 hours between Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 to send in their application materials. It received just under 500 applications – about the same as the previous year.
Indie plans to distribute a second round of investments this fall.
“It’s an interesting time to be announcing new investments,” Indie said in a statement. ” As more and more firms pull back their funding pace or pull out of the market altogether, we feel grateful to be able to do so.”
