MadaLuxe Group, North America’s leading distributor of luxury fashion, announced today that it has launched an investment arm led by the group’s co-founder, Sandy Sholl. The new division, named SLS Journey, will focus on high-potential emerging companies at the intersection of wellness, beauty, fashion and technology that align with MadaLuxe Group’s vision in the luxury sector. SLS Journey’s initial investment is in PSYKHE, a company that is marrying the science of psychology and AI with luxury fashion to drive personalization.
“As MadaLuxe Group continues to grow, we have identified companies with powerful and innovative technologies that have the ability to profoundly change their industries,” said Sandy Sholl, Managing Partner, SLS Journey. “Because of the current disruptions in the market, many of these companies aren’t getting the attention they deserve. We see this as a tremendous opportunity and have decided to launch an investment arm of our business to ensure that high-potential startups have the resources and guidance they need to grow and succeed.”
SLS Journey is the lead seed investor in e-commerce recommendation platform PSYKHE, alongside the founding investor, Carmen Busquets, who is an entrepreneur, humanitarian and highly accomplished investor in the luxury space. Her previous investments in the fashion-tech space include Net-a-Porter, Lyst and Moda Operandi. She is also a strategic investor in Farfetch.
PSYKHE is an e-commerce platform that uses AI to make product recommendations based on a consumer’s personality profile. Founded by Anabel Maldonado, who has a background in both fashion and neuropsychology, PSYKHE’s patent-pending technology enables consumers to shop by personality, determined by their scores on the Big Five personality test. One of the most respected frameworks in psychology, the test has a known relationship with style preferences. An aggregator powered by machine learning, PSYKHE pulls in product from leading brands and retailers, with each shopper receiving a completely personalized feed and continuously refined recommendations.
The launch of SLS Journey is the most recent step in MadaLuxe Group’s ongoing evolution. Since the start of the global pandemic, the group’s direct-to-consumer business, MadaLuxe Vault, has seen 500% e-commerce growth.
About MadaLuxe Group
Since 2010, MadaLuxe Group has created a unique foothold in the luxury sector, specializing in the distribution of handbags, eyewear, clothing, footwear, timepieces and more from Europe’s iconic maisons. As the fashion industry’s go-to distributor of luxury, the family-owned company not only distributes to the world’s most prestigious retailers, but also through MadaLuxe Vault, its own direct-to-consumer retail destination. For more information, please visit MadaLuxeGroup.com.
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