money matters

Fashion Firm PPR Invests $10 Million in ‘The Fancy’, a New Image Sharing Site

As well as completing their buyout of menswear label Brioni, fashion conglomerate PPR has invested $10 million in image sharing platform The Fancy. The site, part of tech maven Joe Einhorn’s portfolio, allows users to upload and share images they like fancy using social media sites (PPR’s owner Francois-Henri Pinault has already fancied 415 things, and no doubt counting). It’s PPR’s first time funding a tech-based start-up, but The Fancy’s image-heavy interface lends itself to the promotion of fashion and lifestyle goods — like the high-end offerings of many of the brands PPR owns. Betabeat notes the format would work just as well for fine art and collectibles, as Pinault is also a majority stakeholder in Christie’s auction house.

Unlike the many other sites in its vein (Tumblr and Pinterest being but a couple), The Fancy’s image database is synced with links to buy almost all of the pretty things in all its pictures. The referrals and sales data collected as a result will surely make the platform easy to monetize in the future.

PPR Is Financing a New Image Sharing Site