Fashion startup Frank & Oak grabs $15M to expand in New York & double down on mobile

Two-and-a-half-year-old fashion site Frank & Oak today announced it has raised a $15 million round from Goodwater Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Investment Quebec, and Lululemon chief financial officer John Currie.

With fresh capital in hand and 1.5 million users signed up to date, Frank & Oak follows the members-only e-commerce model — the one originally made popular by sites like Gilt and Fab (and Europe Craft Imports in the 1980s). And as with their model, membership is free and anyone can join.

Following the round, the Montreal-based company plans to expand its presence in New York and will use a portion of the new funds to hire “somewhere between eight and 10 employees in New York City,” Frank & Oak chief Ethan Song told VentureBeat. The startup currently employs 120 people in Montreal.

On the tech side, Song tells VentureBeat that the company plans to invest heavily in mobile; so far the company has received just 225,000 downloads across its iOS and Android apps. Frank & Oak also aims to further develop its product recommendations: “We’re continuing to focus on how we go about personalizing the product to our customers taste,” said Song.

Frank & Oak’s new investors are noteworthy. For example, Goodwater Capital’s Chi-Hua Chien — previously at Accel and Kleiner Perkins — had invested in tech industry heartthrobs Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify.