Herbert Smith Freehills Advises Style Arcade On Its Series A Capital Raise Led By Acadian Software

This new capital will be employed to fund the continued rapid growth and expansion of the company.

Led by its founders, Michaela Wessels and Tristan Hoy, Style Arcade is an Australian company that provides a fashion software suite offering digital range planning and fashion analytics that provide intelligent merchandising recommendations for retailers to achieve sales growth.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Co-Head of Venture Capital (Australia) Elizabeth Henderson and solicitor Taseen Rafi, with support from partners Toby Eggleston and Christine Wong, and senior associate Owen Lunney.

Elizabeth Henderson said, “It’s a ringing endorsement of Style Arcade, its Founders, and its technology offering to have its Series A investment round led by Acadian Software, whose investment focus is in SaaS businesses with proven technology and strong fundamentals. Herbert Smith Freehills very much enjoyed working with Style Arcade over this and previous raises, and watching the business grow from strength to strength.”

Taseen Rafi said, “It was wonderful working with Michaela and Tristan, who have developed a great SaaS solution for an exciting sector. With the help of Acadian Software’s experience and expertise, we expect big things in coming years from Style Arcade.”

Michaela Wessels, CEO and Co-Founder of Style Arcade, said, “This is the second capital raise we have completed with HSF representing us. The calibre of the team and the confidence with which they execute and advise is unmatched. Elizabeth and Taseen, thank you both for being so incredibly responsive, knowledgeable, and also a great deal of fun to work with!”

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in Australian venture capital raisings, and particularly with those delivering SaaS technology. Other examples include:

• Linktree on its US$110 million capital raise in 2022 at a valuation of US$1.3 billion
• Sonder on its A$35 million Series B capital raise
• Mr Yum on its A$89 million Series A capital raise
• Deputy on its A$111M Series B capital raising
• SafetyCulture on it’s A$60.5 million Series C1 and A$99 million Series C2 capital raises
• Dovetail Research on its US$63 Million Series A capital raise
• Culture Amp on its A$120 million Series E capital raise and A$135 million Series F capital raise and secondary sale