Otrium

Otrium was founded in Amsterdam in 2015 by Max Klijnstra and Milan Daniels.[4] The pair had met in primary school, and started and sold a clothing brand Breaking Rocks in 2015. The idea behind Otrium started when they saw how hard it was to sell old inventory after selling their company.[5] Otrium's was designed to eradicate unsold inventory by giving brands a better option than simply offloading unsold inventory to discounters.[4] Klinjstra and Daniels became co-CEOs.[3]

In 2016, the company received a €200,000 growth capital investment investment from investors Hans Veldhuizen, Marque Joosten, Marijn Pijnenborg and Victor Knaap.[1]

In January 2018, Otrium received a €750,000 investment from investors Adriaan Mol, Fred Gehring and Ludo Onnink.[1]

In May 2019, the company raised €7 million in a series A, led by venture capital firm Index Ventures.[6]

In May 2020, the company raised $26 million in a Series B funding round, led by venture capital firm Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from existing investors venture capital firm Index Ventures and Dutch investor Hans Veldhuizen.[7]

In March 2021, the company raised $120 million in another funding round, led by venture capital firm Bond Capital and returning investor Index Ventures, with participation from existing investor Eight Roads Ventures.[8] The funding was earmarked for the company's United States expansion.[8] In November, the company launched in the United States.[9]

In February 2022, the British Fashion Council (BFC) announced Otrium as a Patron sponsor, to help the industry develop more sustainable business practices, and to help fashion brands with their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts.[3] The deal included Otrium's co-CEO Milan Daniels joining the BFC's advisory board.[3]

Otrium sells end-of-season items online for fashion brands.[8] Their site has been compared to an online outlet store.[10] The retailers each have their own micro-sites on Otrium's web site, and they control their pricing.[11][12] The site is gated and requires an email address to sign up.[13] Otrium coordinates the storage, sale, and shipment of the items, and the brands select the available stock they want to sell.[4] Otrium takes a cut of each sale made on their platform.[5]

An additional sales channel helps the brands avoid having to destroy excess merchandise.[8] The company makes sustainability part of its message, in order to prevent the reportedly 12% of every collection that remains unsold.[10] As part of its sustainability efforts, the company partners with sustainability rating company Good On You to allow shoppers to filter brands based on how sustainable they are.[14]

The company works with clothing and fashion brands that include Karl Lagerfeld, Joseph, Anine Bing, Belstaff, Reiss and ASICS.[8]

Otrium also develops advanced analytics to help brands choose the right products to manufacture, to minimize the risk of excess inventory.[8] The analytics help with forecasting and identifying what is and isn't selling.[15]

The company is based in Amsterdam, and ships to 20 markets across the United States and Europe.[9] As of February 2022, the company reported over 3.5 million registered members, and over 300 fashion stores on its app.[4][3] Co-founders Max Klijnstra and Milan Daniels serve as co-CEOs.[3]

• us.otrium.com