- Festival wear fashion online retailer Dolls Kill announced it raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital
Dolls Kill — the online retailer known for its festival wear and following among “e-girls” — announced it raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Including this round of funding, Dolls Kill has raised over $60 million.
Launched in 2011 by former DJ Shoddy Lynn and her partner Bobby Farahi, Dolls Kill launched within rave and EDM subcultures by offering platform shoes, fishnet unitards, and festival-style pieces. Doll Kills did not reveal its revenue numbers, but the company said that it is profitable.
With this round of funding, Dolls Kill will be used to expand international operations as well as launching more brands and strengthening digital offerings for the company. This expansion will also include enhancing delivery and returns as well as providing more on-site support and customer service for international customers.
“A large percentage of our followers and site traffic are international,” said Farahi.
As music festivals like Coachella and general festival EDM culture have been drawing bigger audiences, Dolls Kill helped establish an online offering similar to Hot Topic and Nasty Gal thus pushing other online retailers to expand their categories to include festival wear and rave pieces.
This funding round was led by former COO, CFO and chairman of Zappos and current Sequoia Capital partner Alfred Lin. Lin is joining the Dolls Kill board in conjunction with this funding round.
Dolls Kill has a major Gen Z following and recent Instagram posts include an ASMR edition of staffers favorite products and a “Y2K dream girl” outfit.
“Their brand values are very aligned to the values of Gen Z,” added Amy Sun, a partner at Sequoia Capital.
Dolls Kill has seen success with its “Doll” model as it creates six personas of “Dolls” that speak to different subcultures within the community — with products and styles sold under these customer archetypes. The funding round will also expand these brands to strengthen the persona of each “Doll.”
