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in hand and 1.5 million users signed up to date, Frank & Oak follows the members-only e-commerce model — the one originally made popular by sites like Gilt and Fab (and Europe Craft Imports in the 1980s).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.

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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.