Outdoor gear flash sales site The Clymb grows its online community with an expanded selection, raising $2 million in Series A funding to advance its standing as a lifestyle marketplace.  The funding will also prop its mission to inspire human-powered adventure by providing on-sale quality gears and experiences at prices that reflect today’s economy. The round was led by Oregon Angel Fund and Walden Venture Capital, in participation of J Allard and a number of individual investors.

“This financing will allow us to further our mission to inspire adventure in our member community by expanding the breadth and scope of our gear offerings, while giving our brand partners valuable exposure to a targeted consumer base of outdoor enthusiasts,” says Kelly Dachtler, Co-founder and Chief Communications Officer of The Clymb .

The Clymb also seeks to provide marketing opportunities and valuable insights to its partner brands, a move Kristen Nicole anticipated in an earlier review of the flash sales site. It’s aiming for an expanded network of brand partners for a wider array of outdoor experiences along with the enhancement of their website shopping tools. The company first launched in 2009 and has grown to a user-based of several hundred thousand, crediting the better fraction of membership to referrals. Such tactics have been central to the success of flash-sales sites, combining the personal and social aspects of online commerce to drive an air of exclusivity and reward.

The Clymb’s momentum is quite seasoned, and the flash sales site is hoping to cash in an industry expected to grow $6-billion strong by 2015. “This investment validates the potential we saw in the market when we started The Clymb to create a new revenue channel for premium brands that is equal parts commerce and brand-positive marketing,” said Cec Annett, Co-founder and Chief Merchandising Officer, The Clymb.

While The Clymb is dedicated to the active lifestyle space, there are countless other flash sales sites out there catering a different user base. The recently launched The RealReal, for example, is a refined, stylist-curated designer consignment store that targets women who are into designer items such as Chanel and Prada. We also have Lot18 for high-quality wines, which recently expanded to include gourmet food offerings as well.

Flash sales sites originally thrive for limited-time sales in order to unburden high-end brands of surpluses in their inventory, but flash sales sites have proven themselves to be effective advertising media to gain loyal customers for brands. Saint Parfum for instance sold its $55 candles for $25, and ended up getting 6,000 daily visitors from 250 on their official website. “We don’t profit much, because of the discount,” said Spencer Krenke, Saint Parfum’s founder and perfumer. “But more important is that what we gain is long-term, loyal customers.”

Flash sale sites also create big data opportunities to advance in marketing analysis. In The Clymb’s effort to deepen its relation with consumers, it will create a significant and valuable database for a wider data that can take advantage of its own information.