Garment repair app Sojo raises €2.2 million in pre-seed funding

The UK’s first clothing alterations & repairs startup app, Sojo, raised €2.2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by CapitalT.

Simon Beckerman, the founder of Depop, Yael Gairola, the ex-COO of Pangaia, Peter Hawkings, the vice president of menswear at Tom Ford, and Michelle Kennedy, the founder of Peanut, were among the angel investors in the round.

The UK app, which uses a bicycle delivery service to connect users with local seamster businesses, intends to expand on its concept of offering consumers simple access to garment alterations and repairs.

The solutions-focused company, founded by Josephine Philips in 2020 and launched the following year, hopes to use the new capital to further centralize and modernize the tailoring and clothes repair industry, with the goal of reducing fashion waste.

Philips said that it’s been fantastic to observe such a massive shift in consumer behavior when it comes to sustainable design, such as observing the big emergence of re-sale platforms like Depop. They’re really happy to keep driving circularity in the sector in a new way – through the repair and tailoring of their products. Having such a fantastic group of investors on board allows them to achieve true scale and impact.

The company has now raised a total of 2.7 million dollars, which includes a 400,000-dollar angel financing round in September 2021.

In the same year, Sojo began a B2B partnership with fashion label Ganni, providing free tailoring and repairs to Ganni’s London-based clientele. Following the initial pilot stage, Sojo plans to expand the functionality countrywide, with seven more collaborations expected to start in the second quarter of 2022.

The new investment will enable the company to expand its five-person workforce and further develop its B2B functionality. Currently, the app is only available in London’s zones one and two, but Sojo hopes to expand both in the capital city and throughout the rest of the UK.

Janneke Niessan and Eva de Mol, founding partners of CapitalT, said that they need more circular solutions to reduce the environmental effect of their consumption society. Bridging the gap between what is being done and what is required is a difficult task. Such extraordinary tasks necessitate outstanding entrepreneurs, such as Josephine. Josephine is a go-getter who mixes innovative strategy with tremendous execution like no other. They’re thrilled to be supporting the Sojo team as they work to make fashion circular.