The Norwegian fashion retailer Villoid is preparing for a broad launch on the Swedish market. The goal is to reach a turnover of 100 million Swedish krona in Sweden already next year, according to Breakit.
To lead the expansion, the company is bringing in Swedish e-commerce profile Fredrik Palm, who will join as both an investor and strategic advisor. Fredrik Palm has a solid background in scaling consumer companies internationally, after six years as CEO of Desenio, which he took public, as well as a consultant and board member at Caia Cosmetics.
From cleaning closet to half a billion
Villoid was founded by Norwegian tech and e-commerce profile Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik. The business originally started as a social trend and shopping app under the umbrella of telecom giant Telenor, with British IT girl and style icon Alexa Chung as an early co-founder.
Since the founders bought out the company and transformed the app into a pure-play online store, a shift that Ehandel.se previously reported on, the company has grown rapidly in the Norwegian home market.
Today, Villoid ships over 1 million packages a year, generates a turnover of over half a billion Norwegian krona and is approaching 100 employees. The company has grown by over 50 percent per year – with profitability.
It has been a completely crazy journey. No one believed in us at the beginning and no one wanted to invest. We went from a cleaning closet to a pink castle, says founder Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik in a presentation film on the company's website.
Rejected by male investors
Securing venture capital for the concept was initially an uphill battle, as male investors dismissed the idea of pink dresses as a fun hobby. The turning point came when Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik wrote a widely publicized debate article, appeared on live television and urged women to invest in the company instead.
Today, the online store has a loyal community of half a million shoppers and followers, with a team where over 90 percent of the employees are women. At the same time, the company uses AI in almost all parts of the operation to optimize processes.
Now that the sights are set on reaching 100 million Swedish krona in Sweden, the founder recognizes the challenge from before:
The craziest thing I've ever done was telling the media that we would turn over 100 million when we didn't have a single customer. But look at us now. We set high goals and we achieve them, says Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik.