Where Angels Flock to Fashionistas

FashInvest is still looking for entrepreneurs in the fashion, beauty, and related industries to participate in a conference where they can pitch to investors.

Image: FashInvest

It’s unlikely you’ll find bankers staked out in the tents at New York’s Fashion Week, but fashion entrepreneurs seeking to meet those who can fund them will have a chance later this year in New York City.

The Second Annual FashInvest Capital Conference is set for December 7, at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and there’s still space for entrepreneurs who want to pitch the angel investors, institutional angels, venture capitalists, and smaller private equity firms that will be on hand. Hopeful startups and business owners will need to file their applications via FashInvest.com by this Friday, October 28, in order to do so.

Karen Griffith Gryga, chief executive officer of FashInvest, said the event seeks to put the spotlight on a variety of presenting companies that vary by business types as well as by how long they’ve been around.

The conference is looking for both established companies with revenues of $2 million to $7 million that are seeking growth and/or acquisition capital, as well as younger companies seeking early-stage capital, she said. Applicants can include traditional hard goods/soft goods companies, Internet e-commerce and other Internet-based opportunities, as well as technology companies related to the fashion and beauty industries.

The conference will ultimately feature up to 20 selected, vetted, and coached entrepreneurs who will present their opportunities in an eight-minute format to financiers and operating executives in the audience.

Fashion startups on the fence about making a public pitch might find encouragement from what happened at last year's event. London’s online beauty site Cult Beauty, which launched in June 2008 amid the global recession and managed to grow 300 percent year-on-year despite launching during this bad economy, caught the eye of two founding partners of Net-a-Porter.com and ultimately landed its first round of funding as a result.

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