UK-based DREST raises €17.4M for its luxury fashion gaming platform

London-based DREST, a company that claims to be the world’s first interactive luxury fashion styling game, announced on Wednesday, June 21, that it has raised £15M (approximately €17.41M) in a fresh round of funding. 

DREST says it will use the funds to continue the development of its new product proposition, DREST Game 2.0.

The funding news follows the recent hire of gaming and web3 specialist Henri Holm as Chief Financial Officer. Holm has previously worked with privately financed, venture capital-backed, and publicly traded firms, driving finance, business growth, and digital strategy design.

Investors in this round

The investment came from the family office of DREST co-founder and co-Chair Graham Edwards. 

Edwards understood the potential of DREST from its early ideation with fellow founder and co-Chair Lucy Yeomans, previously Global Content Director for NET-A-PORTER and Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s Bazaar UK for 12 years.

As co-Chair of DREST, Edwards provides knowledge and expertise from the investment and technology industries together with a strategic business mindset to help DREST’s growth and global expansion.

Edwards says, “We’re delighted to be able to support Lucy in her quest to bring the merged worlds of gaming and fashion to an excitingly large global audience.”

The world’s first luxury fashion styling mobile game

Founded in 2019, DREST gives players the ability to showcase and improve their styling skills by using the latest luxury fashion and beauty collections to style hyper-realistic avatars. 

It does this by fusing the creative worlds of luxury fashion, beauty, and lifestyle with endless metaverse possibilities.

DREST is a platform for user-generated content through its in-game challenges, with digital fashion selection given by FARFETCH as well as brands directly, allowing users to find, style, and purchase the latest collections.

The company integrates gamification with brand marketing and collaboration opportunities, allowing its stakeholders to reach out to and connect with new and highly engaged audiences.

Since its inception, DREST claims to have grown its user base by 250 per cent year-over-year, raised £30M, and collaborated directly with over 260 brands, including Breitling, Cartier, Christian Louboutin, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, and Valentino.

Capital utilisation

DREST is getting ready to launch an enhanced, metaverse-enabled version of its current product, which will include a number of new features. It aims to become the top creative platform for fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle gamification. 

Additionally, DREST also has plans to expand on the platform’s user base by growing DREST through the developer ecosystem, marketing channels, and strategic income sources.

Over the course of the next 18 months, research and development will begin on further games in the web3 and lifestyle genres, says DREST.

Lisa Bridgett, CEO of DREST, says, “We are thrilled to have secured investment to help us scale DREST, especially in such a tough market. This is testament to the strength of our product delivery and pipeline of ideas.”

“We are now ready to take the business to the next level, and offer a new one-of-a-kind experience to our users while maintaining the core elements of the game. There is an undeniable interest in gaming from the luxury fashion and lifestyle industries and we are very well positioned to cater to this increasing demand,” adds Bridgett.