VentureBeat

Only a few weeks before its demise, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. led a third round of funding for myShape, an online store that helps women find clothes that fit their exact dimensions. The company’s venture branch committed to the contribution in August before filing for bankruptcy in mid-September.

Seemingly unaffected by the Lehman fund’s collapse, the investment round remains open. So far, Pasadena, Calif.-based myShape has raised $12 million, and hopes to close above its target of $16.5 million. The money will go toward expanding and marketing the site, and bringing more clothing brands on board.

The next year will be key for the apparel site to keep an edge over its competition. Right now, myShape users enter their measurements into the website, and are then presented with clothing options that would fit and look best. Similar site Zafu Inc. uses an algorithm to suggest flattering clothing patterns for users’ body types, and several companies like Intellifit Corp. have developed body-scanning technologies that can produce custom-fitted clothing patterns.

Meanwhile, Lehman’s holdings company — the largest of its kind to file for bankruptcy — plans to reinvent itself as an independent firm if it can convince several limited partners or other firms to buy out Lehman Brothers’ interest in the fund. This could be difficult considering the mess that’s been left behind. Lehman Brothers’ creditors filed Thursday to investigate a suspected $17 billion in cash and securities it was holding at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In addition, Richard Fuld, the fund’s chief executive, testified before Congress today, admitting that it critically misjudged the mortgage markets and was unable to keep up once the problem gained momentum.

Previous myShape investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Pasadena Angels and Tech Coast Angels joined Lehman in the current round.

Zafu, a website is designed to help women find jeans or bras that fit their specific body type — to excruciating detail, as we’ve reported — has raised $4.1 million in a second round of funding.

What’s striking is that this is considered worthy of investment by venture capitalists. Numerous large fashion and retail companies could easily recreate this sort of site with minimal investment. Can Zafu really become a large company of the type that VCs like to bet on? Apparently Carlyle Venture Partners and Wasserstein SBIC Ventures, the investors, think so. Women are still coming online in great numbers, although its possible that trend of gender catch-up may end soon.

The site is also notable for being covered with ads delivered from Glam, another fast-growing woman’s oriented network focused on serving such advertisements. Glam itself is being fueled with millions of dollars in backing, creating quite an ecosystem of sites around it. Are these sites propping themselves up with cross partnerships? A house of cards, or long term sustainable model? We’ll be writing more about Glam Monday. Its July Comscore numbers continue to show growth, but there’s a complex story behind Glam…stay tuned.