Fashbae goes global
Leaving home for London aged 17 was supposed to be an adventure. Little did Bridget Thackwray think then that it would be the inspiration for the business she now plans to take global.
She set up online fashion site Fashbae in 2016, with investment from businessman Eric Watson, and is now working with his son Sam to raise more capital and take on the world.
The site, which is free for buyers and sellers, is a shop for pre-loved clothing, shoes and accessories that caters to men and women, young and old.
Since its soft launch in December 2016, it has attracted 30,000 users.
‘‘Supporting myself financially since I left home at 17, I totally understand the importance of budgeting and how to survive in the modern world. The reality is selling clothes is a great way to make some extra cash or support your shopping habits,’’ Thackwray said.
‘‘I contacted Eric for mentoring purposes, I knew him as a child. I went along and pitched to the Cullen Investments team about Fashbae and what I was doing. He agreed to mentor me and saw the gap in the market so he decided to invest,’’ she said. Cullen is Watson’s investment company.
Thakwray’s pitch for Fashbae is that it attempts to tackle the risks and hassles of online trading - such as scamming, social media bullying, issues around payment, and problems with usability.
Working with NZ Post, she has developed a payment system - Safepay - that takes money from the buyer’s account but doesn’t release it to the seller until the bought item has been posted (this is verified through a package tracking system).
Operating with the Cullen investment, the site isn’t making money yet, but that’s not part of its business plan at this stage although she has plans to monetise Fashbae through advertising as the number of users increases.
‘‘We’ve seen a lot of interest already from overseas investors,’’ Eric’s son Sam Watson said. He is an associate director at Petrina Advisors in New York, a company that works closely with Cullen Investments, and is working with Thackwray to raise capital.
‘‘Our generation and younger just seem to get this peer to peer selling.
‘‘We are constantly looking for technology investments that have the potential to be scaled globally. Bridget has developed a platform that has significant capability particularly across different retail sectors. We are currently undergoing a capital raise.
‘‘We are looking to raise US$1 million, and not surprisingly the initial response has been very positive with US $500k already confirmed. My goal is to make Fashbae the primary trading platform for fashion within New Zealand, and then internationally.’’