Drest raises 15 million pounds in funding

Drest, the luxury mobile fashion, beauty and lifestyle game, has secured 15 million pounds in funding to continue developing its new product proposition, Drest 2.0.

The investment round agreed with the family office of Drest co-founder and co-chair Graham Edwards, a well-known UK property entrepreneur, builds on the mobile gaming company’s strong momentum, where since its launch in 2019, it has recorded 250 percent year-on-year user growth and raised 30 million pounds.

Drest said it will use the capital to enable its evolution across gaming, media, data and e-commerce as the company prepares to roll out globally a highly improved, metaverse-enabled version of its current product.

Further plans include scaling Drest through the developer ecosystem, marketing channels and strategic revenue streams, as well as building on the user base growth experienced by the platform. It also expects to explore additional games within the web3 and lifestyle space and will enter a research and development phase over the next 18 months.

Drest secures additional capital to roll out a metaverse-enabled version of its gaming platform

The new funding comes at a time when mobile gaming revenues reached 92.2 billion US dollars in 2022, accounting for 50 percent of the 184.4 billion US dollars in global gaming market revenues. With NewZoo estimating that the global gaming market will be worth 221 billion US dollars by 2025.

Lisa Bridgett, chief executive at Drest, said in a statement: “We are thrilled to have secured investment to help us scale Drest, especially in such a tough market. This is a 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. We very much look forward to the next chapter.”

Drest has found a niche in the gaming market by blending the worlds of luxury fashion, beauty and lifestyle with the possibilities of the metaverse with hyper-realistic avatars. The game allows players the chance to exhibit and improve their styling talent using the latest luxury fashion and beauty collections. The platform works directly with more than 260 brands, including Breitling, Cartier, Christian Louboutin, Fendi, Gucci, Prada and Valentino.

The news follows the appointment of gaming and web3 expert Henri Holm as chief financial officer in January. He previously worked with privately funded, venture capital-funded, and publicly listed companies, driving finance, business development and digital strategy creation.