The venture capital fund Kairos Ventures ESG One, announces its participation in the investment in Underscore District, an accelerator of Italian brands in the fashion and luxury sector, which has a total amount of more than 4 million euros.
Founded in 2021, Underscore District is characterized by an innovative business model that provides, in addition to the contribution of capital for growth, the provision of a complete set of services to brands, ranging from finance to operations, from merchandising to e-commerce, with the aim of promoting sustainable development. The creative direction remains firmly in the hands of the designer, who is supported by managers with different skills, active in the various company functions.
Underscore District operates by focusing on particularly promising new talents, with the aim of redefining the paradigm of the creative sector, and currently has four investments to its credit: Piumestudio, a women’s footwear brand born in 2021; WOK Store, a historic avant-garde multi-brand retailer on the Italian scene; GR10K, a brand inspired by the world of utilitarian and work-wear, with an innovative approach to the use of materials and workmanship; Magliano, a men’s fashion brand that won the prestigious Karl Lagerfeld award in 2023.
With the capital raised, Underscore District intends to support its growth process, expanding the portfolio of investee companies, in order to create an entrepreneurial hub in the fashion sector powered by a young team of over 20 professionals with different backgrounds ranging from private equity to finance.
With the investment in Underscore District, Kairos Ventures ESG One, a closed-end alternative investment fund under Italian law managed by the Kairos group and reserved that invests in innovative startups and SMEs, expands the range of its subsidiaries, combining fashion with the B2B digital transformation, life science, new space economy and green energy sectors on which it had focused until now.
Seventh investment
Underscore District is the seventh investment of the fund that has so far supported Endostart and BetaGlue Technologies, companies active in the life sciences sector; nuclear technology startup Newcleo; Hercle, the Milan-based startup that opens the doors of digital and crypto assets to institutional investors; Materia Medica Processing, a high-tech company engaged in the pharmaceutical development of cannabis sativa extracts; Conversely, a fintech company that has introduced a financing model in Italy to support the growth of digital companies.
Roberto Zanco, manager and key partner of the Kairos Ventures ESG One fund, said in a note: “We believe that Underscore District is a company of undisputed value, which has numerous prospects for growth and consolidation in the Italian market. On the one hand, in fact, it is one of the first companies to operate as a fashion brand accelerator in a professional way in our country, creating a hub of expertise capable of supporting promising young designers in the development of established brands; on the other hand, managers are endowed with a formidable intuition in recognizing true talents, as evidenced by the prestigious Karl Lagerfeld award given to Magliano, one of the companies in the portfolio. We therefore expect Underscore District to continue to grow, expanding the range of successful brands.”
Edoardo Di Luzio, CEO and co-founder and Alfonso Meccariello, CIO of Underscore District add: “The new capital raised will allow us to continue our ambitious development goals, putting our know-how and infrastructure at the service of an increasing number of brands. Fashion is a sector of systemic importance in our country, an industry that, according to data from Confindustria Moda, closed 2023 with over 111 billion euros in turnover. It is a challenge for us to accompany towards sustainable development the new talents who in the future will be able to make their contribution to this important sector, new faces who can bring new perspectives to the fashion scene and who, why not, could become the Giorgio Armani of tomorrow”.
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