St. Louis-based clothing brand Summersalt just raised $17.3 million in Series B funding and its founder and CEO said the company's goal is to "provide joy in all of our products."
The company, which launched in 2017 with a line of direct-to-consumer swimwear, uses recycled materials in its popular $95 swimsuits.
"We would never say never [about partnering with a company like Walmart or Amazon] but really the roadmap moving forward is to speak directly to our consumers, cut out the middle-man, and offer a better product for a better price," CEO Lori Coulter told Cheddar. Coulter, a former design professor and swimwear designer, founded Summersalt with marketing and brand consultant Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin.
Summersalt's second round of funding was led by Utah-based venture capital firm Mercato Partners. It last raised $8 million in April in a Series A round and is backed by firms including Founders Fund and Lewis and Clark Ventures.
"We're super excited about the funding," Coulter said. "The main thing we're doing is to continue to deliver on our promise to provide joy in all of our products, to infuse joy in all of our products that we're expanding to."
Since its launch with swimwear, Summersalt has expanded to travel-wear and sleepwear. Chattaram Chamberlin said in a press release "from the moment we launched Summersalt our goal was to own every corner of our customer's suitcase and with this latest round of funding we are one step closer to this."
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
