Xena Workwear Inc. — a Milwaukee startup that makes work boots and apparel designed for women in STEM fields and the trades — has raised another $850,000 from investors to fuel its growth, Xena founder and CEO Anastasia Kraft said.
The latest investors include Jennifer Abele, a Milwaukee education and public sector leader who has recently become active in local angel investing, as well as gAngels, an angel investing group affiliated with Wisconsin startup accelerator operator gener8tor Management LLC.
Xena will use the capital to add one or two employees and launch at least three new products this year, including one aimed at women in the hospitality industry, Kraft said. With just four employees currently, Xena has grown to $2.7 million in revenue in 2021, more than double compared with 2020 sales, Kraft said. It plans to at least double sales again this year, she said.
Additionally, Xena has partnered with a distributor in New Zealand to target the Oceania market after seeing natural interest from customers there, Kraft said. The company's fulfillment center is in Menomonee Falls and its manufacturer is in Mexico, Kraft said.
"We have never marketed internationally," Kraft said. "Women in New Zealand and Australia started buying our shoes and paying an insane amount of money for shipping."
Kraft, who previously worked in manufacturing, founded Xena in 2019 after experiencing frustrations with the fit and appearance of other work boots on the market. After participating in gener8tor's gBETA accelerator program that year, Xena launched and raised $750,000 in seed funding from investors shortly thereafter, Kraft said.
Xena's first investors were Chicago venture capital firm Starting Line; Brian Spaly, who founded apparel e-commerce companies Trunk Club and Bonobos, which later sold to Nordstrom and Walmart, respectively; and Austin, Texas-based cowboy boot company Tecovas founder Paul Hedrick, Kraft said.
With the latest financing round, which Kraft is calling a "bridge round" before Xena raises more capital this fall, Kraft intentionally tried to reach out to female investors, she said. Other investors included a group of women from Ohio who are investing together, as well as two Xena customers, Kraft said. It also received funding from Chicago's IrishAngels, which is affiliated with Notre Dame.
"I took on this challenge to raise more funding from women," Kraft said, adding that Xena is officially certified as a women's business enterprise through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. "With everything we do, we kind of try to push boundaries."
Abele, who is focused on investing in female-founded startups, said she feels personally connected to Xena's mission.
"When I was the superintendent of (Milwaukee Water Works), I had a terrible time finding the women’s steel-toed boots I needed to wear on our construction sites or for water main breaks," Abele said.
Xena's sales primarily come directly through its website but the company aims to build up its business-to-business channel this year through preferred vendor relationships with corporate partners, Kraft said. Early partners include Rockwell Automation and Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc.
Women who have purchased Xena boots work at companies including NASA, SpaceX, Tesla, Kohler and Johnson Controls, according to Xena.
