Hem, the Berlin-based home furnishings company created last year by Jason Goldberg as a pivot after his previous online marketplace Fab.com collapsed, has confirmed the acquisition of assets from Discipline.eu, an online design portal based in Italy. We first reported that the deal was in the works last week.
The financial terms of the all-cash deal are not being disclosed, but Hem says that it will include the design rights and inventory of Discipline.com, covering about 200 products in all from a lineup of young and up-and-coming designers. It looks like no employees are coming on with the acquisition. Discipline is meanwhile “restructuring” its business.
“We are happy that the Discipline designs will live on and thrive at Hem,” Renato Preti, Discipline CEO, said in a statement.
Discipline looks to be the fourth acquisition that Goldberg has made to fill out the Hem vision of providing a vertically integrated business that makes, sells and distributes home furnishings and accessories. Others have included OneNordic (aka “the luxury Ikea”) and furniture retailers MassivKonzept in Berlin and MyFab in France.
It’s ironic that while the concept of Hem is to be much more pared down than Fab ever was — Goldberg has talked about the challenges of developing a large marketplace including the handling of too much inventory, among other issues — from what we understand it looks like the company is on the lookout for more acquisitions of this kind in Europe going forward. Along with some of Fab.com’s assets, Hem is also in possession of whatever funding has remained from Fab.com, which had raised over $330 million when it was still active. VCs backing Fab.com — and now Hem — include Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, First Round Capital, ITOCHU, Menlo Ventures, Singtel, and Tencent.
“The Discipline designs and designers are a perfect match for our Hem vision of Design Made Easy. We are excited to integrate the Discipline products into our full-stack, private-label design concept,” said Goldberg, Hem CEO, in a statement.
“We strive to work with the most relevant designers to bring to market the most relevant products. The Discipline designers are some of the best of the best and we are thrilled to welcome them into the Hem family,” added Petrus Palmér, Hem EVP & Global Creative Director.
The news comes as we’re hearing that the remaining Fab.com business in the U.S. — the rest of the business’s operations have now either been shut or folded into Hem — is in the last stages of getting acquired by PCH, reportedly for $15 million in cash and stock. We’ll update this as we learn more.
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