As per millennials, buying second-hand clothing is a much ‘greener’ way to do your shopping. And that’s why London startup Depop which offers buying, selling, swapping and Instagram-like app for clothes, accessories and other fashion stuff has become very popular, especially among entrepreneurially minded teens.
Now recently, the online fashion marketplace, has raised $62M in a Series C fundraise, with support from existing investors Octopus Ventures. As per company presser, Depop intends to use the funds to accelerate its expansion in the US and internationally, grow its London-based engineering and data science teams and invest in new tools and functionality for the platform’s more than 13 million users globally.
Existing investors HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Balderton Capital, Creandum, Octopus Ventures, and TempoCap also participated in the round, alongside angel investor Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Founder and CEO of Swedish fintech company Klarna.
So, how does it work?
Depop is a social shopping app that has been described as a mix of eBay and Instagram. It is largely targeted at Gen Z shoppers. The app lets users follow their favourite vintage sellers and custom clothing makers, scrolling through their photos to find items they want to buy. Users can like, follow and message each other to secure sales or show off their collections.
Sellers on the platform have made more than half a billion dollars (+$570 million) and 19 million transactions since its launch in 2011. Depop has also had early success in its US launch, adding 5 million users and doubling sales. It has launched physical stores in New York and Los Angeles.
Approximately 90% of Depop’s active users are under 26, and an estimated one third of 16 – 24 year olds in the UK are registered on the platform. The average daily user opens the app several times per day, discovering content and connecting with other users as well as buying and selling. Each month, Depop community members like, follow and message one another 85 million times.
Depop has seen strong organic growth, particularly in the U.S., which the company projects will soon become its largest market. Since January 2018, Depop has grown its global user base to 13 million, almost doubled U.S. sales, and opened physical stores in New York’s Chinatown and the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. Depop is now among the top 20 most popular shopping apps in the U.S. by daily active users, and expects to grow its community of U.S. users to 15 million over the next 3 years. The vast majority of Depop’s new users in 2018 came to the app organically.
Depop CEO Maria Raga said:
“The next generation of young people want to experience the fashion industry is struggling to provide. They want authenticity and to set their own trends. They’re influenced by real people. They want choice and individuality, the ability to buy on demand and sell on with ease. At the same time, they want to reduce waste. Depop is set up to meet these changing demands. We exist to empower the next generation to transform fashion.”
“Social shopping, independent brands and resale are gaining popularity around the world, but particularly in the US where Generation Z will be the largest consumer group by 2020. Over the past 18 months, our growth in the US has been almost entirely organic, driven by the community of creative young people on Depop.”
“This latest investment will enable us to scale further and faster in the US and beyond, building a platform that helps to find and grow the fashion stars and trends of the future.”
Melis Kahya, General Atlantic Head of Consumer for EMEA, said:
“Technology continues to transform the retail landscape around the world and we are incredibly excited to be investing in Depop as it looks to capture the huge opportunity ahead of it. In a short space of time the team has developed a truly differentiated platform and globally relevant offering for the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs and consumers. The organic growth generated in recent years is a testament to the impact they are having and we look forward to working with the team to further accelerate the business.”
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