In 2020, CFDA member Autumn Adeigbo became the first eponymous fashion brand led by a female, Black designer to raise more than $1 million in venture capital funding. Recently, she secured additional funds of nearly $3 million, led by venture capital firm Offline Ventures, founded by Brit + Co’s Brit Morin, and Fuel Capital, bringing her total investments to more than $4 million.

The designer known for her eye-catching dresses in bright colors and headbands has grown her business 400 percent over the last year and is about to launch at retailers Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. Currently, the brand is available at Intermix, ShopBop, Elyse Walker, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Free People, and Rent the Runway.

With this added financial support, the designer hopes to find a permanent home in New York, expand into other product categories, and even open her own brick-and-mortar store.

“I love fashion. But if we were talking 50-50, I’m like 51 percent more interested in the business side of things. I’m more of an entrepreneur, humbly pursuing this lifelong dream of mine, which was to become a fashion designer, which morphed into understanding entrepreneurship at the same time,” Adeigbo told WWD. “Because there’s so much that goes into building a business that the design is just a by-product. And that’s why so many fashion brands come and go, I think. Because it is more of a business than it is an art form. The art has to meet the commerce.”