As you’ll recall, a few days ago we discussed a men’s high end apparel company that received funding from a rather unique Silicon Valley investment group. So when another apparel deal was announced a few days later, I really took interest. The smart money appears to be betting that as the economy recovers, apparel will too. In this case, what also caught my attention was the type of company being invested in.

According to a press release, Gigi Hill Inc., a California-based maker of handbags and tote bags, received $3 million in venture capital funding lead by Maveron. Also participating in this deal was Trinity Ventures. Two members of the Maveron executive team will join Gigi Hill’s board as a result of the financing.

I frequently encounter small business owners who make two flawed assumptions:

• My company is too small to attract professional investors.
• My industry is not attractive to professional investors.

As you can see from the information above, in many cases both of these assumptions can be very, very wrong. So what attracted the investors to Gigi Hill? [Read more…]