Material Bank announced today that the company had secured $100 million in series C funding, in a round co-led by General Catalyst and Durable Capital Partners LP. The Sandow-owned sampling service said in a statement that the capital will be used to “fuel continued momentum, scale teams and infrastructure, expand into new verticals, make strategic acquisitions and seed long-term growth initiatives.”
The oversubscribed round brings Material Bank’s total funding to $157 million. The round’s investors are a who’s who of buzzy, fast-growing online enterprises: Venture capital firm General Catalyst has previously invested in the likes of Airbnb, Lemonade, Stripe and Warby Parker; meanwhile, Maryland-based investment firm Durable Capital Partners LP has led series D rounds for client management software HoneyBook and digital pharmacy startup Capsule in the past week alone. The round also included participation from BOND, Lead Edge Capital, and existing investors Bain Capital Ventures (which led the company’s $28 million series B fundraise in April 2020) and RaineVentures (which partnered with Starwood Capital Group on earlier rounds).
“We were strategic with this raise and are thrilled to announce the support from this dynamic group of investors that have come together in this round,” said Material Bank founder, chairman and CEO Adam Sandow, who is also founder and CEO of the eponymous media group that includes Interior Design and Luxe Interiors + Design. “With a core business that turned profitable last year, this new capital added to our company’s strong balance sheet and will allow us to build upon our considerable momentum and accelerate growth opportunities."
In addition to new capital, the company also gains a new member of its board of directors: Bob Mylod, who joined the round through Annox Capital, and currently chairs the boards of Booking Holdings (parent company of brands like Booking.com, Kayak and OpenTable) and online used car marketplace Vroom.
Material Bank officially debuted in January 2019 as a digital marketplace for materials sampling, connecting manufacturers and brands with architects and designers. One of its key selling points was convenience and speed, promising designers that all orders placed by midnight would arrive in one box by 10:30 a.m. the next day. (In addition to the convenience of the service and the opportunity for product discovery, the company also focuses on the efficiencies and sustainability gains of consolidating sample shipments, and recently started purchasing carbon offsets to make its operations completely carbon-neutral.)