Scarosso, the online luxury shoe brand, announced today that it has raised Series A funding from a syndicate of leading investors led by DN Capital. DN Capital was joined in the round by IBB Venture Capital Company managed 'Kreativwirtschaft Berlin', Perikles Ventures and other local angel investors.

The financing will support the launch of new collections, in particular a new women's collection designed by Marco Censi and Guillaume Hinfray. It will also allow Scarosso to accelerate the development of its retail operations. After the successful launch of Scarosso's first store in Hamburg, the company is planning a further opening in Berlin in coming months.

Scarosso was founded in 2010 by Moritz Offeney and Marco Reiter. The business attracted angel funding from Berlin Ventures, Martin Sinner (Idealo GmbH) and Michael Brehm (studiVZ). Scarosso uses its unique relationships with top Italian manufacturers to deliver on its brand promise: offering customers unparalleled design, materials and craftsmanship at honest prices.

CEO Moritz Offeney commented: "The capital we raised gives us a great base to grow our business. It will allow us to expand our product portfolio to include new lines and a new women's collection. It will allow us to expand our retail operations and international distribution and introduce many more customers to the Scarosso brand. We are delighted to be working with such a strong international partner as DN Capital and are already benefitting from their deep ecommerce experience and network."

Marco Reiter, Co-Founder and COO added: "This investment will boost our operations and help to ensure that Scarosso can continue to make its customers happy while building a sustainable business".

Tom Bradley, Partner at DN Capital, commented: "I am delighted to be working with the Scarosso team. They have a great product, a great opportunity and a fantastic instinct for the detail required to succeed in their markets. DN Capital has made several successful investments in Germany in recent years and Scarosso shares the same DNA as some of our other success stories. We hope they will come to dominate their market like our other companies such as MisterSpex and Windeln have done."


About Scarosso:
Exquisite Italian craftsmanship. Shoes and Accessories 100% handmade in Italy. Pure elegance. Understated chic. A unique combination of contemporary and traditional styles to create sleek modern classics. Premium quality leather, elegant shapes and superb workmanship. The vision: To enthuse those only satisfied with the best. Genuine. Honest. Founded in 2010 at the renowned Milan Univeristy Commerciale Luigi Bocconi. Developed from the original business project " Passion for Italian shoes. The exclusive production in established traditional workshops in Montegranaro, a small, picturesque town in the Le Marche region of Italy guarantees the finest quality products.

Discerning customers have the unique opportunity to customise their shoes via the online platform Scarosso Studio. Since the launch of the first women's collection in spring 2012 women can also enjoy the privilege of exclusive, premium quality Italian shoe manufacturing. The company, based in Berlin, now employs more than 30 people and opened its first shop in Hamburg in winter 2012.

About DN Capital:
DN Capital is a global early stage and growth capital investor in software, mobile applications, digital media and e-commerce companies with offices in London and Palo Alto. DN Capital's objective is to identify, invest in and actively support its portfolio companies to become global leaders. Portfolio companies include Shazam Entertainment, Apsmart (sold to Thomson Reuters), Endeca Technologies (sold to Oracle), Datanomic (sold to Oracle), Eyeka, Performance Horizon, JacobsRimell (sold to Amdocs), Mister Spex, OLX (sold to Naspers), Airsense Wireless, MPME, Apsalar, Tbricks and windeln.de. The professionals at DN Capital bring over 50 years of private equity experience to their investments, and actively work with portfolio companies to steward their growth through the various stages of development. Additional information about the firm and its portfolio companies can be found at www.dncapital.com.

About IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft:
IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft (www.ibb-bet.de) provides venture capital to innovative Berlin enterprises and has established itself as a market leader in the field of early stage financing in the location Berlin. The funds are used primarily for the development and market launch of innovative products or services, as well as for business concepts of creative industries. Currently two of the funds managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft are in the investment phase, the "VC Fonds Technologie Berlin" with a fund size of EURO 52 million and the "VC Fonds Kreativwirtschaft Berlin" (VC Fund Creative Industries Berlin) with a fund size of EURO 30 million. Both VC funds are financed by means of the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD) administered by the State Berlin. Since 1997, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, in consortia with partners, has made 850 million EURO available to creative and technology-orientated companies; thereof, the portion invested by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft itself as lead, co-lead or co-investor was approximately EURO116 million.