Startup Marketplace Connects Fashion Brands With Boutiques

As a senior buyer for Ann Taylor, Mona Bijoor’s job involved many back-to-back showroom appointments, spreadsheets and even a fair bit of paper and glue. “My husband would tease me about playing with paper dolls again,” Bijoor recalls of the lookboards of apparel and accessories she made before placing orders every season. In March 2010, Bijoor launched Joor, an online wholesale marketplace that connects retail buyers with designers and brands. Brands can upload their collections to Joor, reach out to store buyers that might want to carry their merchandise (rather than cold calling over the phone) and process orders. Buyers, in turn, can discover new designers and submit orders. In design and functionality, Joor closely mimics the shopping experience on consumer-facing retail sites, like Net-a-Porter or Bloomingdales.com. Buyers can search and browse by brand, category, price range, tag and style number, and add looks they like to a shopping cart. They can also send and receive messages via an on-site inbox. Both brands and retailers can adjust their settings so they can’t be randomly solicited. Joor now has around 20 employees, and has signed on more than 400 brands and 10,000 retailers, including recognizable names like Diane von Furstenberg, Theory, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys. The startup raised $3.25 million in funding in September from several venture capital firms, including Battery Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Captial, Landis Capital and Forerunner Ventures, following a $2.25 million Series A round in July 2011. Joor plans to use the funds to open an L.A. office and double its staff. Joor makes money by charging brands a $3,500 setup fee and a 3% cut of every sale. Competitors include Balluun, Brandboom and Boutique Fashion Brokers. Over the next six months, Bijoor says she’s focused primarily on international growth — in fact, when we last spoke earlier this week, she was boarding a plane to meet designers and retailers in Milan and Paris. At present, 10% of brands and 20% of retailers on Joor are international.