Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) has acquired a 50% stake in Bailey44, a contemporary women’s apparel brand.
Bailey44’s products are sold through specialty stores across the U.S and Europe, as well as department stores and online stores globally. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Los Angeles (www.bailey44.com).
With this investment, Norwest Venture Partners’ Sonya Brown and Rob Arditi have joined Bailey44’s board of directors.
“In Norwest Venture Partners we have found a partner that will work with us in realizing our expansion plans into new and exciting areas. Sonya Brown and Rob Arditi worked closely with Bailey44’s senior management team to ensure that the company’s culture, vision and path remained essentially unchanged. We are thrilled to leverage Norwest’s consumer experience and strategic expertise in e-commerce, international expansion and marketing to help take our brand to the next level,” said Ruthy Grode, co-founder and CEO of Bailey44.
Demonstrating substantial year after year double digit growth, Bailey44 has been become a major player in the contemporary women’s apparel market. Nordstrom’s, Saks Fifth Ave, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales carry the Bailey44 brand, in addition to Intermix, E Street Denim and several hundred active retailers throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Bailey44 sales have also been boosted by online retailers such as Revolve Clothing and Piperlime. The company’s plans for growth include strengthening brand awareness, international growth, category expansion and increasing its online presence. Management will continue to operate the business from Bailey44’s Los Angeles headquarters.
“Bailey44 is a leading women’s contemporary premium apparel brand that is already highly profitable and well positioned for continued growth. The management team, which worked together for nearly 10 years, has an extraordinary track record in manufacturing and launching well designed clothing lines. We’re thrilled that Bailey44 has chosen NVP as its partner, and we look forward to working closely with the team to continue building a major force in the women’s contemporary apparel category,” said Sonya Brown, general partner at Norwest Venture Partners.
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a multi-stage investment firm that has partnered with entrepreneurs to build businesses for more than 50 years. The firm manages over $3.7 billion in capital and has funded more than 500 companies since inception. NVP makes early to late-stage venture capital and growth equity investments across a range of sectors including: technology, information services, business services, financial services, consumer products/services and healthcare. The firm headquartered in Palo Alto, CA and has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. (www.nvp.com).
“As a bootstrapped and well-established company, Bailey44 did not need an investment partner. Therefore, we feel very fortunate that the company has selected Norwest as its partner for the next stage of Bailey44’s growth,” said Rob Arditi, vice president at NVP.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-11-13
