Online footwear store Sapato.ru, which is essentially a Zappos clone, has raised $5m in a second round of funding from eVenture Capital Partners, Kinnevik and Fast Lane Ventures, all three of whom are previous backers.
The Russian startup, which was launched only as far back as June 2010, intends to use the funds to “increase assortment” and to improve its customer service in a bid to emulate Zappos, along with launching an “aggressive” marketing campaign. The footwear market in Russia is estimated to be worth over $15 billion, although this is currently almost entirely offline.
“Online footwear shopping market is still immature but has a lot of potential. We are glad that thanks to the partners of Sapato.ru we can make the first and the best online footwear store in Russia.” comments CEO Matthieu Lannegrand.
Sapato stocks more than 3,000 models of shoe from 100 world-known brands but in 2011 aims to increase this to 10,000 models of men, women and kids footwear.