Content marketing platform Styla announces €2.5m seed funding to help make everyone a magazine publisher
“I wanted to get in touch to introduce you to Styla, a content marketing company that is impressing fashion companies including LVMH. Styla’s patent-pending technology allows brands to create a print-style magazine online in a matter of minutes”.
Magazine building platform Styla today announced a €2.5m seed funding round led by Redalpine Venture Partners and contributed to by prominent VCs and angel investors. Styla’s innovative technology is the first to fully automate the process of creating beautiful print-style magazines online.
Launched in 2012 by two experienced entrepreneurs, Philipp Rogge and Franz Riedl, Styla’s patent-pending layout engine does not require any design, formatting, or development work, allowing anyone to create an online magazine in minutes.
At the same time, Styla automatically integrates eCommerce capabilities into its editor, making all products displayed directly shoppable from within the magazine. This, along with the magazine experience, leads to 36% higher sales conversion rates and increases customers’ average time on site to 4.5 minutes.
Peter Niederhauser, Managing Director of Redalpine Venture Partners, said: “In just two years, the team at Styla have developed a disruptive technology that has the potential to become the global standard for content commerce. Such outstanding success in such a young company made Styla the ideal investment for Redalpine.”
Do Larger #Brands Really Have It Easier With #Content #Marketing? http://t.co/2I4szpjzoi pic.twitter.com/BQTLiT5iJz
— Styla (@Getstyla) April 29, 2015
Additional investors include Groupe Arnault, the controlling shareholder of LVMH, which owns brands Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Fendi, and founding investor Atlantic Labs, lead by business Angel Christophe Maire. Cherry Ventures, the fund run by Zalando/Groupon/Quandoo entrepreneurs, and German VC Westtech Ventures also contributed to the round. Styla will use the funding to build its technological lead in the market, grow its sales and development teams, and accelerate its growth.
Christophe Maire, Managing Partner of Atlantic Labs, said: “I’m impressed by Styla’s highly experienced team of entrepreneurs and their crystal-clear product vision. I am confident that the team, combined with Styla’s cutting-edge technology, have the potential to take the company all the way to the top of a multi-billion market.”
Rogge added: “I am very proud of our multinational team that managed to realise an outstanding piece of technology that convinced both clients and investors.”
Styla has already attracted major companies to its platform, including Graziashop from Grazia magazine, German television network RTL Group via its fashion site Blogwalk, Rocket Internet companies Zalora and Lamoda, clothing store Canterbury, and Mavi jeans. Styla also counts retailers, brands, and eCommerce companies across the verticals of fashion, interior design, sports, beauty, and travel as its clients.
Richard Hatfield, Managing Director of Graziashop, said: “Using Styla’s beautiful layout and eCommerce service has added a stickiness to our site and helped define the storytelling of our brand. It’s the only product we’ve found that really brings the aesthetics of print magazines to the web.”
Based in Berlin, Styla’s layout engine is the key to the company’s success. Rather than requiring hours of input and design expertise, users simply upload text, images, and videos in Styla’s editor. The company’s algorithms then take over by automatically defining the design of collages, product spreads, and shop-the-look formats. By allowing consumers to buy products without leaving the magazine, Styla offers an engaging shopping experience and enables every company to make use of content commerce.