Diesel founder invests in startup incubator H-farm
Summary
Renzo Rosso, the founder of clothing company Diesel, has just taken a 20 percent stake in the startup incubator H-farm.Weve seen plenty of high-tech investors taking stakes in online fashion businesses, such as Atomico Ventures, the investment fund of Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstr\xf6m, investing in Fashiolista, an online fashion community. But a fashion magnate investing in startups is much more unusual.The amount of the investment was not disclosed.H-Farm was founded in 2005 and is based on an estate overlooking the Venice lagoon in Italy. In its first 5 years, H-farm invested 9.5 million EUR ($13.62) in 26 startups. Another 10 million EUR ($14.33) is expected to be invested in the next 5 years.Renzo Rosso owns not only Diesel but a plethora of other fashion labels including Marc Jacobs Men, Viktor & Rolf and Vivienne Westwood. Diesels parent company Only the Brave has a turnover of $1.7 billion and employs 6,000 people.