User:Flowers4machines/sandbox/Zola (company)

Zola is an all-in-one online wedding registry, planner, and e-commerce company based in New York. Notably female-led, it has been profiled as a quickly-growing, highly successful service and startup. Making an account on Zola and using its planning and website-building services is free; the company generates revenue by selling wedding gifts and other wedding-related items.

History
Zola was founded in New York City in 2013 by Shan-Lyn Ma and Nobu Nakaguchi. It was launched as an online wedding registry, and has grown to fill an empty niche for a one-stop-shop for wedding planning.

In 2017, Zola expanded from being just a wedding registry to also offering a suite of wedding planning services. The free services include customizable wedding websites, guest lists, RSVP tracking, and checklists. In 2018, the company introduced print-to-order wedding invitations and save-the-dates. In October 2018, Zola partnered with home decor retailer Crate & Barrel as a primary vendor, and in January 2019 unveiled the first brick-and-mortar Zola store: a pop-up in the Flatiron District of New York City.

Funding
Zola has amassed a series of high-profile investors, including Comcast and Goldman Sachs, who have invested into the company a total of approximately $140 million. With a valuation of $600 million as of February 2019, Zola is on the path to becoming a financial unicorn: a privately-held startup valued at over one billion dollars. According to The New York Times, "Zola is one of three companies on the list of [fifty] potential next unicorns that have been fueled by millennials' spending."

Business Model
Zola's digital services are free to the user. The company generates revenue by acting as a middle-man between different commercial partners and zola.com users, charging a markup on top of the wholesale prices of the various registry items. Zola also prints and sells customized paper products, such as save-the-dates, invitations, and thank-you cards. Zola's use of drop shipping, a supply-chain method that removes the need for a warehouse, has been noted as one of key features that makes it a startup with high potential.