The Guildery Inc.
Guildery is making color coordination for Home easy through digitally printed fabrics.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
The Guildery Inc. operated as an e-commerce company specializing in custom home decor, co-founded in 2013 by Shane Reilly and Kelly Berger. The firm targeted design enthusiasts and interior designers, offering a platform to create and purchase color-coordinated fabrics and upholstered accessories.
The founders brought a complementary blend of expertise to the venture. Shane Reilly, an interior designer and tech entrepreneur, had previously founded the design platform Decorati, which was acquired by Gilt Groupe in 2011. Her background provided the crucial link between the professional design community and the technology platform. Kelly Berger, an alumnus of the University of Illinois in Electrical & Computer Engineering, had co-founded Tiny Prints, a successful online stationery retailer acquired by Shutterfly for a reported $100 million in 2011. His experience was in product management, market research, and scaling e-commerce operations.
The Guildery's business model centered on an on-demand manufacturing process. The company curated exclusive patterns from a community of artists and designers, which consumers could then customize. Its proprietary technology facilitated this customization through a visual, drag-and-drop shopping experience, allowing for the meaningful organization of colors and patterns. Revenue was generated from the sale of these made-to-order products, which included high-quality textiles like Belgian Linen™, pillows, table linens, wallpaper, and small upholstery. This on-demand model, utilizing high-quality digital printing, allowed for mass customization without the need for large inventory holdings.
The company secured $2.1 million in seed funding from investors including Forerunner Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, SoftTech VC, and AOL's BBG Ventures. In March 2016, The Guildery was acquired by Minted LLC, a larger online design marketplace. The acquisition was a strategic move for Minted to expand its footprint in the $100 billion home decor market. As part of the deal, Shane Reilly became Minted's Head of Strategic Partnerships, and Jeff Marion, Guildery's Vice President of Engineering, took on the role of leading Minted's E-commerce Engineering.
Keywords: custom fabric, home decor, on-demand printing, textile design, e-commerce, interior design, Shane Reilly, Kelly Berger, color coordination, custom upholstery, Decorati, Tiny Prints, digital printing, fabric customization, Minted acquisition, design marketplace, home goods, curated design, visual shopping, mass customization