Diesel Founder Invests in Startup Incubator H-Farm

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We have seen plenty of high-tech investors taking stakes in online fashion businesses, such as Atomico Ventures, the investment fund of  Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, investing in Fashiolista, an online fashion community.

A fashion magnate investing in startups is much more unusual. Renzo Rosso, the founder of clothing company Diesel, has just taken a 20 percent stake in the startup incubator H-farm. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

H-Farm was founded in 2005 is based in an estate in a rural area overlooking the Venice lagoon in Italy. H-farm makes seed investments in startups which then remain on the estate for up to 36 months before taking on further investment rounds. There are H-farm branches in Seattle, Mumbai and London. In its first 5 years, H-farm invested 9.5 million EUR ($13.62) in 26 startups. Another 10 million EUR ($14.33) is expected to be invested in the next 5 years.

Renzo Rosso owns not only Diesel but a plethora of other fashion labels including Marc Jacobs Men, Viktor & Rolf and Vivienne Westwood. Diesel has a turnover of $350 million per year and employs more than 1,300 people.

Tags: fashion, incubator

Companies: diesel, h-farm

People: renzo rosso

By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN 20 Apr, 2011

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8854537f7e463c135c526446d39e87de
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