From 1 September 2016 onwards, strategic media partners will hold stakes in the Hamburg-based fashion and technology firm ABOUT YOU. Minority interests will be acquired by SevenVentures – the media investment arm of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group – and the media investor German Media Pool in conjunction with its long-standing partner RTL II, KLAMBT Media Group and other radio and TV stations from Germany and Switzerland. The Otto Group will continue to hold the majority stake in ABOUT YOU via its holding company Collins. ABOUT YOU was established as a start-up two years ago and is now worth more than €300 million. ‘We are very proud that such high-profile investors believe in ABOUT YOU’s success. The new partnership with leading European media companies will really help us to push ahead with scaling the business. We might well consider adding further investors, depending on their strategic value,’ explains Hannes Wiese, co-founder and director of Operations and Finance at ABOUT YOU.

After just two years on the market, ABOUT YOU is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce businesses in Europe with more than one million active customers and brand awareness of over 50 per cent among its target audience. In the 2015/16 financial year, the company generated sales in the high tens of millions. It expects to more than double this figure in the current financial year. The firm aims to become one of the leading online-only fashion retailers throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With this in mind, it is ramping up its activities in Austria and Switzerland. ‘Not many companies have succeeded in building up such a high company value in such a short space of time. Our aim is to significantly increase this in the next few years,’ says Wiese. The new investors’ involvement is affirmation of ABOUT YOU’s success to date and will make it possible to scale the fledgling company efficiently in the highly competitive online fashion market.