Dive Brief:

• ThirdLove, a digitally native direct-to-consumer bra lingerie brand, has raised $55 million in its latest round of fundraising. The company said in a press release it wasn't looking for new capital, but the round was completed preemptively by consumer-brand focused firm L. Catterton and investment bank Allen & Company.

• Prominent female angel investors also contributed, including journalist Katie Couric; sisters Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe; and Nancy Peretsman, managing director of Allen & Company. Funding also came from Tim Armstrong, former CEO of Oath and AOL, and Michael Zeisser, former U.S. chairman at Alibaba Group, among others.

• The new funding will go toward expanding sizes, styles, product offerings and fit technologies, the company said. To date, the company has raised $68.6 million, including $5 million in seed funding and $8 million in Series A funding, according to data provided by Pitchbook.

Dive Insight:

The funding news comes less than a week after the company announced a major expansion of its sizing. The company, one of the first to develop half cup sizes, now offers 78 sizes, including bands between 0 and 48 and cup sizes between AA and I. With a new pocket full of cash, the company now says the plan is to continue to develop more sizes.

One of the company's selling points — to customers and investors — is based on its mission of empowering women. Anne Wojcicki said in a statement on the funding news that she's a big fan of the inclusivity element of the brand. "ThirdLove promotes reality over fantasy and shows the spectacular beauty of all sizes, shapes and colors of women," she said.

Funneling more money into its online fit technology is one way the company could differentiate from other digitally native lingerie brands crowding the category. By the company's metrics, over 12 million women have used the fit finder tool, which uses algorithms to help customers find a perfect-fitting bra in "just 60 seconds." The company released a new version of its bra-fitting technology in 2017. Added improvements that hone in on the accuracy could be a saving grace for a company without a place for women to try on the products.

The brand, which launched in 2013, has graduated to a new kind of serious funding. But the high dollar amount comes with high expectations for growth too. Venture capital is a route that many DTC brands have taken to scale dramatically within a short period of time. Luggage brand Away, for instance, raised a fresh $50 million from investors like Forerunner Ventures last summer. Doing so meant they had to have a plan to set ambitious goals and meet them, co-founders Steph Korey and Jen Rubio told Retail Dive last year.

It appears ThirdLove has the same ambition, although whether they can hit the success metrics in time to impress often impatient investors remains to be seen.