Apparel maker Teespring raises $35M in venture capital

TEESPRING, which allows people to design and sell their own T-shirts, has raised $35 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley investors. / COURTESY TEESPRING
TEESPRING, which allows people to design and sell their own T-shirts, has raised $35 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley investors. / COURTESY TEESPRING

PROVIDENCE – Teespring, a custom apparel-making platform founded by Brown University graduates, has raised $35 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley investors.
The Series B round from Khosla Ventures, which closed earlier this month, will allow Teespring to grow and build its own manufacturing plant in Kentucky, Senior Vice President Chris Daft confirmed by phone Tuesday afternoon.
Last year Teespring raised a $20 million Series A round from Andreesen Horowitz, also of California.
The company currently has an office in San Francisco focused on the technology side of the company while the Providence office, still considered the headquarters, focuses on customer services and operations, Daft said.
Brown graduates Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton founded Teespring after an effort to save a Providence bar grew into an online crowdfunding platform that allows people to design and sell their own T-shirts.
Over the past year Teespring executives have talked about expanding beyond T-shirts and even potentially beyond apparel into other consumer goods.
Last winter, Williams told PBN the company was up to 100 employees, with around four-fifths of them in Rhode Island.
Daft said when the new Kentucky plant opens next year, the total employee count will be around 400, including expansion in Providence.

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