Melijoe and Gimv join forces with The Babyshop Group to strengthen global leadership in high-end children's fashion
Melijoe, a leading multi-brand website for premium children's fashion, announced today that it has joined forces with The Babyshop Group (BSG), a Swedish high-end children's fashion group. The merger with BSG fits Melijoe's ambition to further expand its vision and international presence to become the largest and most professional e-tailer for premium children's fashion. Gimv and the Melijoe founder remain shareholders and join a group of recognized investors led by Verdane Capital.
Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com ) was founded in 2007 when Parisienne Nathalie Genty, mother of five, launched a website offering some of the world’s most coveted children’s fashion brands.
Founded in 2007 by Nathalie Genty, mother of five with a passion for fashion and the internet, Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com) has in just a few years become the privileged partner of major fashion houses. Today, the company offers more than 150 of the world's most coveted children's fashion brands on its website, with highly inspiring and aesthetic choices.
Gimv acquired a stake in Melijoe in November 2014, mainly to support the company in its international development towards market leadership in a global and at the same time fragmented fashion market in digital transformation.
To meet the desire of major brands to collaborate with a limited number of professional partners in a consolidating market, Gimv, as majority shareholder, has fully supported Melijoe's strategy. A high-end positioning for an international customer base, a high-quality customer experience, an original product range and strategic partnerships with leading brands were key in this, more than a growth strategy based on volume. Thanks to this shared vision, the company was able to record sustainable international growth and is now ready for the next step, through the collaboration with BSG.
The complementarity between BSG and Melijoe is attractive: BSG's well-developed back office (data management, acquisition marketing, retail logistics, etc.) can be deployed on a broader scale and enables the group to build further on an ambitious plan for the future.
"From my perspective, clothes are a reflection of children’s emerging personalities. When I created Melijoe, I dreamt of an online store where parents could be free to pick and play with fashion for their kids. Joining Babyshop Group will give me the opportunity to further expand my vision of what Melijoe and our new sister sites should be and represent globally." comments Nathalie Genty, founder and CEO of Melijoe.
"Combining scale and deep sector expertise within an established but fragmented global niche market such as children's fashion ensures the continued potential of the new Stockholm-London-Paris team. In the new group, operational capabilities and privileged relationships with consumers and A-brands should enable the very best customer experience in the business. " add Guillaume Bardy, Partner and Gert Kerkstoel, Associate Partner at Gimv.
Through this transaction Melijoe founder Nathalie Genty and Gimv join a solid group of shareholders, with Swedish Verdane Capital as main investor and benchmark investor for consumer internet companies in Northern Europe.
For more information, we refer to the press release of The Babyshop Group in attachment. No further financial details on this transaction are being published.