Secondary fashion sales are booming, with the global market for pre-owned apparel generating a whopping $40 billion per year, according to Boston Consulting Group, and growing at a rate of 15 percent per annum, as consumers increasingly tap into the online consignment segment, new market entrants rush to meet burgeoning demand, and existing players look to differentiate themselves and their value propositions. Against this background, funding keeps pouring into the secondary market – whether it be funneled into new resale platforms or already-established ones that are looking to expand their operations, including in an international capacity – and all the while, given the increasingly crowded nature of the market, consolidation is starting to come into effect, with existing entities joining forces to grab a bigger share of the market.
With so much activity underway on the resale and rental space, we have put together a (running) timeline of investments and M&A events to provide a broad overview of which players are raising funds, which are merging together, and what the trajectory of this segment of the market – which only appears to be gaining in steam – looks like more generally …
September 2022 – Impossible Kicks Raises $3 Million in Series A
Sneaker and streetwear reseller Impossible Kicks (“IK”) announced the close of a $3 million Series-A equity raise on September 20, bringing its total funding raised to $7 million since its founding in February 2021. In a statement, IK expects $55 million-plus in sales in 2022, up from $15 million in sales in 2021. The Irvine, California-based company will use the cash to facilitate its “continued expansion plan across the United States, which includes two new locations prior to the end of the year and nine additional storefronts in 2023.” (As of Sept. 2022, the brand supports 15 storefronts across nine states – including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.)
“With an unrivaled brick and mortar presence,” IK says it “will also augment its e-commerce and digital efforts, including the development of proprietary products.”
August 2022 – Reflaunt Raises $11 Million in Series A
Reflaunt closed its Series A round with a total of $11 million in funding, the the London and Singapore-based resale-as-a-service company announced on August 24. The close comes a couple of weeks after the circular fashion service provider first revealed that it had welcomed $5.2 million in funding from the likes of Bombyx Capital Partners, Shanghai-based Ventech China, and TLF Ventures. Global Blue, a Swiss-based tourism shopping tax refund company, also participated in the Series A round, along with early investors, including Swarovski’s creative director Giovanna Battaglia and American retail conglomerate Madaluxe Group.
Reflaunt says it will use the new cash to expand its services and secure new partnerships with luxury brands and retailers. “We have integrated the resale experience in the brand’s ecosystem, which allows us to record the product’s digital ID at the moment of check-out and foster a seamless resell-in-a-click experience when the customer is ready to give the product a second life,” Reflaunt co-foudner and CEO Stephanie Crespin said in a statement.
August 2022 – Trenbe Raises $25.2 Million in Series D
South Korea-based luxury goods marketplace Trenbe announced on August 22 that it raised 35 billion won ($25.2 million) in a Series D funding round, which included investors, such as IMM Investment and Atinum Investment. Gangnam-headquartered Trenbe says that it will use the funds to “diversify its business and improve customer experience.” The round follows from the company’s July 2020 Series B, in which it raised 11 billion won.
August 2022 – Sneaker Trading Co. Tradeblock Raises $8.9 Million in Seed II Round
Houston-based Tradeblock has raised more than $8.9 million in seed funding from investors Courtside VC, Trinity Ventures and Concrete Rose Capital, the company announced August 25. The company is planning a rolling close to its current Seed II round and expects to bring in an additional $4.5 million from investors by close. Launched in 2020, Tradeblock consists of a barter-based trading platform for shoe collectors. With the new funding, the company plans to invest in expanding its authentication and logistics efforts, as well as its data science capabilities to better enhance the platform’s virtual bartering experience.
July 2022 – Resale Platform Galaxy Raises $7 Million in Funding
Gen-Z-focused pre-owned fashion platform Galaxy has raised $7 million in new funding from investors that include Snap Inc’s Yellow Accelerator, Floodgate, RGH Capital, Turner Novack’s Banana Capital, and Homebrew. Launched in August 2021, the company combines live-shopping and fashion resale in order to “build entertaining and engaging experiences that generate explicit data” – via machine learning – “where users tell us what they like by interacting with our product,” CEO Danny Quick stated in announcing the round. The company says that it will use the newly-raised cash to implement “new, user-friendly features and increased opportunities for creators to feel empowered and earn a living on their own terms, in their own time.”
May 2022 – Carousell to Buy Up Refash
Singapore-based online classifieds giant Carousell has signed off on a deal to acquire secondhand retailer Refash for an undisclosed sum, as the resale market continues to grow in Asia. Carousell said in a statement that 7-year-old Refash, which touts itself as an “online thrift store,” will continue to operate its own brand, as distinct from the Carousell entity, and that the acquisition is expected to “drive a synergistic partnership between the two marketplaces.”
April 2022 – Sneaker Marketplace SoldOut Raises $33 Million
Korean sneaker marketplace SoldOut raised $33 million in a funding round led led by Korea online retail titan Musina and FinTech Dunamu. The nearly 2-year-old resale company will use the funds to fuel its expand into new product categories and build out its customer experience, including by upgrading its platform and opening a second inspection center in Seoul.
March 2022 – Vestiaire Acquires Tradesy
French resale company Vestiaire Collective announced its acquisition of Tradesy, “a U.S. pioneer in the fashion resale industry,” on Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said in a statement that by joining forces, they will “significantly increase the size and reach of their peer-to-peer marketplaces, to the direct benefit of their sellers and buyers. The combined company will boast a membership community of 23 million, a catalog of 5 million items and a Gross Merchandise Value exceeding $1 billion. Customers of both Vestiaire Collective and Tradesy will significantly benefit from the companies’ alliance.”
*As of August 2022, Vestaire announced that it would fold Tradesy into its own brand in furtherance of a larger effort to bolster its presence in the U.S. market.
December 2021 – Rebag Raises $35 Million in Series E
Rebag has raised $35 million in funding a Series E round, bringing the 6-year-old resale company’s total funding to $103 million. “Following a strong year driven by technological advances and category expansion,” Rebag says that the round – which was led by private equity firm Novator with participation from existing investors, such as General Catalyst – “positions [it] for its next cycle of innovation and accelerated growth,” and that the investment funds will be used to further build upon Comprehensive Luxury Appraisal Index for Resale, its proprietary software aimed at bringing transparency to the luxury resale industry. The company says it will also use the round to scale its tech-enabled brick-and-mortar business.
December 2021 – Farfetch Acquires LUXCLUSIF
Fashion e-commerce platform Farfetch announced on December 9 that it has acquired resale platform LUXCLUSIF, including the company’s technology platform, for an undisclosed sum. This deal will allow FARFETCH to “significantly accelerate its resale capabilities through the development of key technology and service features such as automated pricing, and faster geographic and category expansion of its resale service, FARFETCH Second Life,” the London-based company stated.
Founded in 2013, LUXCLUSIF is a B2B service provider with “a successful turnkey solution enabling the acquisition, authentication and sale of second hand luxury goods to – and from – auctions, retailers, e-commerce platforms, and stores worldwide,” the companies said in a statement. “Together, FARFETCH and LUXCLUSIF can leverage these capabilities and positioning to become the global platform for pre-owned luxury for both customers and industry partners.”
November 2021 – eBay Acquires Sneaker Con’s Authentication Arm
eBay announced on November 29 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Sneaker Con Digital under which it has acquired Sneaker Con’s authentication business, a leading sneaker authenticator with operations in the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia and Germany. According to a statement from eBay, “The acquisition is an extension of the ongoing collaboration between [itself] and Sneaker Con, which has been critical to powering eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee. The service, which eBay launched in October 2020, offers full vetting and verification of select sneakers bought on the marketplace by a team of Sneaker Con’s industry experts.”
Additionally, the marketplace stated that its “Authenticity Guarantee has significantly changed the way people buy and sell sneakers on [its site], as evidenced by quarter over quarter category growth. In just over a year, more than 1.55 million sneakers have been authenticated globally on eBay.”
November 2021 – Marque Luxury Raises $20 Million
Marque Luxury has secured $20 million in funding through an investment by Provident Capital Partners, the Irvine, California-based reseller announced on November 19, saying that the round “follows a period of tremendous growth for MARQUE Luxury, which has opened numerous re-commerce hubs in the United States and several hubs in Asia during the last year and has aggressive plans for future expansion.” The 4-year old company says it will use the new cash to “drive continued business expansion on an operational scale focused mainly in North America,” to “support its omnichannel strategy and allows [it] to generate business activity in the global market on a business-to-business and business-to-business-to-consumer basis.”
November 2021 – StockX Acquires Scout
In its first acquisition, StockX has bought up Scout, a leading developer of power seller tools that is already serving more than 10,000 sneaker resellers around the world. StockX says that the new technology will enable it to “ramp up inventory” – which is, of course, the lifeblood of resale platforms and the primary driver of consumer demand – thanks to Scout’s “best-in-class automation, inventory management, tracking and integration with marketplaces.” At the same time, StockX states that the move will help its marketplace sellers to “accelerate their businesses,” presumably a bid to attract sellers in an increasingly competitive resale market, where no shortage of other resale players have taken to focusing on pre-owned sneakers and streetwear.
In addition to onboarding Scout’s product, StockX confirmed that it will bring on the company’s team three co-founders and seven employees, who “bring their deep experience as sneaker resellers and developers of inventory,” as aims to scale seller business operations.
Detroit-based StockX, which revealed that it surpassed 6.5 million lifetime buyers and 1 million lifetime sellers in the first half of 2021, has been building out its initially sneaker-focused offerings since its founding in 2016 and expanding internationally. In the wake of its latest funding round, a Series E-1 round that closed in April 2021, the company boasts a valuation of $3.8 billion valuation.
October 2021 – Poshmark Acquires Suede One
In its first-ever buy-side move, Poshmark announced on October 13 that it has acquired Suede One, an authentication platform that “combines machine learning, computer vision and expert human review to virtually authenticate sneakers,” with Suede One’s team joining Poshmark effective immediately. According to Poshmark, the acquisition “will scale [its] authentication capabilities and accelerate momentum in high-growth secondhand categories, especially sneakers and luxury,” and reflects the secondhand marketplace’s focus on “strategic investments that drive continued platform innovation, accelerate growth in high-growth resale categories and enhance the user experience to attract and retain both buyers and sellers.”
Founded in 2020, Suede One “has built impressive capabilities in virtual authentication that will allow us to deliver tangible benefits to our community, scale our authentication services in a meaningful way, and accelerate our momentum in sneakers as well as luxury goods, two of the fastest-growing categories in the resale space,” according to Poshmark founder and CEO Manish Chandra.
In a release on Wednesday, Poshmark detailed Suede One’s process, revealing that “for popular sneakers such as Jordan 1s and Yeezy 350s, Suede One can automatically authenticate the majority of submissions with greater than 99 percent accuracy, based on internal testing. For other sneaker types, human experts review the submission with help from the company’s proprietary authenticator tool.”
September 2021 – Vestiaire Raises $209 Million in Venture Round
French resale company Vestiaire has raised 178 million euros ($209 million) in a September 22 venture round which included participation from two new investors, SoftBank Group Corp and Generation Investment Management, bringing its valuation to $1.7 billion dollars. To date, Vestiaire has raised $663.3 million, per CrunchBase.
September 2021 – Tradesy Raises $67 Million in Series D Round
Resale platform Tradesy has raised $67 million in a September 16 Series D round led by led by Foris Ventures, which is Kleiner Perkins head John Doerr’s family office. To date, the company has raised $200.7 million over a series of eight rounds, according to CrunchBase.
September 2021 – Grailed Closes $60 Million Series B Round
Men’s fashion and streetwear-centric marketplace Grailed announced the closing of a $60 million Series B funding round on September 16, which was led by fellow resale player GOAT Group and with participation from Groupe Artémis, along with existing investors Thrive Capital and Index Ventures.
August 2021 – Trove Raises $77.5 Million in Series D
Trove Recommerce, which partners with brands to create online platforms for them to sell used goods, raised $77.5 million in an August 25 Series D round, led by G2 Venture Partners.
June 2021 – GOAT Raises $195 Million in Series F Funding Round
Online sneaker and apparel marketplace GOAT Group has raised $195 million in a new funding round, which has “more than doubled its valuation to $3.7 billion.” The round for the 6-year-old Los Angeles-based company, which boasts some 30 million customers across 170 countries, was led by Park West Asset Management, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Franklin Templeton, Adage Capital Management and Ulysses Management.
June 2021 – Etsy Acquires Depop for $1.62 Billion
In a quest to target Gen-Z consumers (i.e., those born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s), who are driving both social shopping and largescale pushes in sustainability, Etsy announced that it will acquire burgeoning British shopping app Depop for $1.62 billion.
May 2021 – Treet Raises $2.8 Million in Seed Round
Reseller Treet – which powers brands to set up their own resale sites where buyers and sellers can list and find items – raised $2.8 million in a May 26 seed round with participation from Bling Capital, Matchstick Ventures, Techstars, BAM Ventures, BBG Ventures, Green Meadow, Interlace Ventures, V1.VC and Alante Capital.
May 2021 – Vinted Raises $303 Million in Series F Round
Vinted raised 250 million euros ($303 million) in a May 12 Series F round, the Vilnius, Lithuania-founded online resale platform announced. According to a release from Vinted, which got its start in 2008 and boasts some 45 million users, the company “operates in over 10 markets, and has become the largest online C2C marketplace in second-hand fashion across Europe,” and will use the funding from the latest EQT Growth-led round – one that values the resale upstart at $4.3 billion – to expand its operations in Europe and “new geographies,” ramp up its hiring, and improve user experience.
April 2021 – StockX Raises $195 Million in Secondary Market Round
StockX announced the conclusion of a $195 million secondary tender offering on April 8, as well as an additional $60 million in Series E-1 primary shares, boosting the streetwear and sneaker platform’s December 2020 valuation of $2.8 billion by 35 percent, and bringing its total funding to $690 million.
March 2021 – Vestiaire Raises $216 Million in Series H
Kering and American investment firm Tiger Global Management led a March 1 Series H funding round that saw secondhand marketplace Vestiaire Collective bring in $216 million in funding, along with existing investors, including its CEO Max Bittner, Vogue’s parent company Condé Nast, and the Eurazeo Group, among others. The deal gives Paris-based Vestiaire “unicorn status” – i.e., puts a $1 billion-plus value on the privately-held company – and “ideally positions it for its next cycle of accelerated growth.”
February 2021 – Reflaunt Raises $2.7 Million in Pre-Series A
Second-hand fashion platform Reflaunt raised $2.7 million dollars in a pre-Series A funding round from investors including former Jimmy Choo CEO Pierre Denis and Ganni founder and former CEO Nicolaj Reffstrup, among others, with an aim to “offer a variety of resale models to more leading global brands” and to allow consumers to resell pre-owned products “directly on the brands’ individual e-commerce platforms.”
January 2021 – GOAT Welcomes “Strategic Investment” from Groupe Artemis
GOAT Group announced on January 19 that it would welcome a “strategic investment” from Groupe Artemis – the controlling shareholder of Kering – as it “continues its expansion in fashion apparel and new categories.” The undisclosed Artemis investment comes on the heels of a Series E round of $100 million announced in September 2020, which valued the company at $1.75 billion.