UK-based Lyst to get LVMH funding injection

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 13, 2018

UK-based search engine Lyst is getting a multi-million funding injection from LVMH, among other investors, according to a news report on Sunday.

Sky News reported that the funding will be announced by Lyst this week with LVMH the biggest name taking part in the funding round.

A source told the news service that Lyst was looking to raise between £50 million and £100 million with sources also telling Sky that the LVMH involvement might even indicate an interest on the luxury giant’s part to eventually take full control of Lyst.

Lyst was founded in 2010 and is an online aggregator specifically aimed at the luxury sector. It offers access to around five million products and has around 70 million users.

Its connection with LVMH isn’t new, of course, as the luxury group’s products can be accessed via Lyst and its last funding round came in 2015 when part of the reported $40m it raised came from Groupe Arnault, LVMH's controlling shareholder. But the new round would see LVMH investing in the firm directly, according to the news report.

The investment, if confirmed, would also be a reflection of how much more seriously luxury groups are taking e-commerce after many years in which they lagged the mass-market in diving deep into the channel.

And for LVMH in particular, it represents a stronger involvement in tech-driven businesses. The Dior and Louis Vuitton owner only last month announced its Station F incubator programme to invest in luxury-focused start-ups.