{"id":7328,"date":"2018-11-15T06:38:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T06:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/?p=7328"},"modified":"2022-06-22T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T14:07:11","slug":"why-we-raised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Chapter of Our Journey: Why We\u2019ve Raised a New Round of Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dia Community,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been a plus-size woman all my life. Growing up, I wanted to participate in fashion, but I felt shut out\u2014stores didn\u2019t carry my size, and I didn\u2019t see anyone like me reflected in the images I looked to for inspiration. Despite my love of fashion, my shopping experiences left me feeling frustrated and alone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, that all began to change six years ago, when I stumbled upon <\/span>an article in the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i><\/a> about the rise of plus-size fashion bloggers. The article introduced me to bold, stylish women who happened to be plus size\u2014the types of role models I\u2019d longed for since I was a teenager\u2014and the passionate community they were building together. I immediately felt like I had found my people. For the first time, I didn\u2019t feel alone in my style journey.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I didn\u2019t realize at first was just how far from alone I actually was. I\u2019d later learn that 67% of American women wear a size 14 or above\u2014that\u2019s 100 million women. Yet, we are systematically underserved by the retail industry. Limited options, unwelcoming environments, and a lack of representation have left so many of us disappointed. As I realized the scope of the problem, I became determined to no longer stand by and hope for the change I wanted most\u2014but to do everything I could to help create it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up, I wanted to participate in fashion, but I felt shut out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t long before my co-founder Lydia Gilbert and I began working on the idea for Dia&Co. <\/span>We didn\u2019t know exactly what our company would look like, but w<\/span>e knew what we wanted to accomplish: to radically transform the entire shopping experience for the plus-size community, so that instead of being a source of frustration, it would be a source of joy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We began with the approach we intended to always take: speaking directly to the women we are dedicated to serving. We reached out to Chastity Garner Valentine, one of the bloggers profiled in the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> article, and she generously connected us with hundreds of her followers who shared countless stories of frustrating shopping experiences, as well as their hopes for their own style journeys. From their feedback, we developed our first product: the Dia&Co Style Box, which offers a curated in-home shopping experience, and we officially launched in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past three years, with the guidance of our customers and the backing of our investors, we have been able to significantly expand the ways in which we serve our community. Dia&Co Style now offers hundreds of the best brands, as well as ten beloved in-house collections, each inspired by customers\u2019 feedback. This May, we launched Dia&Co Active<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest collection of plus-size activewear, because it was our #1 most-requested category. We partnered with Venus Williams<\/a> and Rebel Wilson<\/a> to bring their designs to our community. We teamed up with theCURVYcon<\/a> to expand its offerings into multiple event formats and content platforms because we\u2019re committed to fostering deep connections between members of our community, both offline and online. And through bold initiatives like a New York Fashion Week runway show<\/a>, a national newspaper ad campaign<\/a>, and a partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America<\/a>, we\u2019ve worked to lay the foundation for lasting change in the fashion industry.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knew what we wanted to accomplish: to radically transform the entire shopping experience for the plus-size community, so it would be a source of joy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And yet, there is still so much more to do. That\u2019s why we\u2019re thrilled to share today that we have raised $40 million in Series C funding, led by Union Square Ventures with participation from our existing investor Sequoia Capital. The fresh capital will further fuel our ambitions for our community, as we work to meet the full style needs of Dia&Co\u2019s 4 million existing users\u2014and the 96 million women we\u2019ve yet to serve.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we begin this new chapter, we turn to you as we always have to help determine our path forward. Your input and support have served as our compass\u2014and your ideas have inspired the development of new products, new ways of shopping, and new experiences already in the works. Dia&Co is a passionate team of 750 people, each of whom is deeply committed to listening and building the experiences that will matter most to you. Please keep your feedback coming! My email address is <\/span>nadiab@dia.com<\/span><\/a>, and I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the extraordinary Dia Community, thank you for sharing your journey with us. Our story is just beginning, and we couldn\u2019t be more excited for the joyful world of style we are building together.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With love,<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nadia<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dia Community, I\u2019ve been a plus-size woman all my life. Growing up, I wanted to participate in fashion, but I felt shut out\u2014stores didn\u2019t carry my size, and I didn\u2019t see anyone like me reflected in the images I looked to for inspiration. Despite my love of fashion, my shopping experiences left me feeling frustrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":7331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"class_list":["post-7328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-know"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDia&Co's Co-Founder on the Next Chapter of Our Journey - Dia & Co<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As we reach a new milestone, Dia&Co Co-founder Nadia Boujarwah reflects on the personal roots of our mission to radically transform the plus-size industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dia&Co's Co-Founder on the Next Chapter of Our Journey - Dia & Co\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we reach a new milestone, Dia&Co Co-founder Nadia Boujarwah reflects on the personal roots of our mission to radically transform the plus-size industry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dia & Co\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/diaandco\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-15T06:38:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-22T14:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3mnyo7e05c2kb.cloudfront.net\/blog-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Dia_LydiaAndNadia_Hero.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"830\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marge Hudson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@diaandco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@diaandco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marge Hudson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/\",\"name\":\"Dia&Co's Co-Founder on the Next Chapter of Our Journey - Dia & Co\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d3mnyo7e05c2kb.cloudfront.net\/blog-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Dia_LydiaAndNadia_Hero.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-15T06:38:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-22T14:07:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/12fa817987a28e5e481cfbdfaa4a81de\"},\"description\":\"As we reach a new milestone, Dia&Co Co-founder Nadia Boujarwah reflects on the personal roots of our mission to radically transform the plus-size industry.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d3mnyo7e05c2kb.cloudfront.net\/blog-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Dia_LydiaAndNadia_Hero.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d3mnyo7e05c2kb.cloudfront.net\/blog-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Dia_LydiaAndNadia_Hero.jpg\",\"width\":830,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"lydia and nadia dia&co founders\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/know\/why-we-raised\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Next Chapter of Our Journey: Why We\u2019ve Raised a New Round of Funding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Dia & Co\",\"description\":\"Dia & Co is the premier personal styling service for plus-size women. 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