Haute Hijab, DTC Fashion and Lifestyle Brand for Muslim Women, announces $2.3 mln seed round
NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Haute Hijab, a direct-to-consumer fashion and lifestyle brand for Muslim women, today announced the closing of a $2.3 million Series Seed financing round led by Cue Ball with participation from Ludlow Ventures, Sinai Ventures, Maveron, Muse Capital, AngelList, and The Helm.
This raise will be used to help Haute Hijab accelerate growth and extend its competitive lead worldwide.
By elevating the hijab category and creating an engaged online community of Muslim women, Haute Hijab seeks to break down stereotypes and create "a global community that celebrates and empowers the hijab-wearing woman."
Haute Hijab is the leading U.S. hijab brand, offering a wide variety of innovative and high-performance fabrics, styles, and designs ranging from every day to luxury use.
Haute Hijab also recently introduced the Ultimate Underscarf (a garment worn under the hijab), which leverages specially-designed tech-fabric engineered for breathability and anti-bacterial properties.
The market opportunity for millennial/Gen-Z Muslim women is formidable, with one-third of Muslims under the age of 15 and two-thirds under the age of 30, according to The Guardian.
The Muslim middle class is expected to triple to 900 million by 2030. Haute Hijab aims to be the first global hijab brand that Muslim women can rely on, after previously purchasing commodity-quality hijabs from informal retailers across the globe or retrofitting simple scarves from fast-fashion retailers. The average Muslim woman wears up to four hijabs per day and owns over 100 hijabs in total.
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Elturk has over 20 years of experience sourcing, styling, and selling hijabs. She is a thought leader in modest fashion and is regularly sought out by media leaders including CNN, ELLE, and The New York Times.
Before founding Haute Hijab, Elturk worked as an international attorney specializing in civil rights law. Co-founder and COO Ahmed Zedan has over 10 years of experience in performance marketing, including experience at three VC-backed startups.
"Cue Ball invests in category-defining and culturally-shaping ideas, and Haute Hijab fits that description perfectly. Melanie and Ahmed are building a purposeful company that not only outfits but also supports and empowers Muslim women across all areas of their lives," said Tony Tjan, managing partner of Cue Ball.
"We are pleased to welcome a new group of investors as partners in our mission to empower Muslim women," said co-founder and CEO Melanie Elturk. "Haute Hijab is entering an exciting phase of growth and innovation. We look forward to using this capital infusion to build the first digital-native Muslim cultural lifestyle brand across the globe."
About Haute Hijab
Haute Hijab is the leading U.S. hijab brand, providing hijabs direct-to-consumer via hautehijab.com. Haute Hijab's signature hijab designs elevate a garment staple for Muslim women worldwide. Haute Hijab is headquartered in New York, NY.
