Minted, a San Francisco, CA-based curated marketplace that connects consumers with designers, raised $38m in funding round.
The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from Technology Crossover Ventures.
Led by founder and CEO Mariam Naficy, Minted is a design marketplace that connects people to independent artists to create original art, stationery, and textiles products.
Since 2007, it has hosted design and artwork competitions monthly from over 6,000 artists, photographers and designers contributing from over 40 countries around the world.
Customers have now access to custom designed fabrics, curated from over 1,400 submissions by independent artists around the world. Submitted designs are improved upon by the community of artists, and winners are selected through crowdsourcing and analytics. The curated selection is then sold with Minted managing all aspects of the business operations.
The company is also activating a new storefront model to give artists and designers the opportunity to run their own businesses through its manufacturing and customer service platform.
In addition to the funding, Toby Lenk, an e-commerce veteran with over 18 years of experience building successful companies, including founding eToys and Gamefly, and who served as President of Gap, Inc. Direct from 2003-2013 joined Minted’s Board of Directors.