Vestiaire Collective valuation rises to $1.7bn as it raises more funds

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 22, 2021

French luxury resale site Vestiaire Collective’s onward march is continuing with news that the business has raised a further €178 million ($209 million) in new finance, six months after a previous funding round. It means the firm is now valued at $1.7 billion.

And the names of those taking part in this latest round illustrate just how huge a potential some big-hitters see high-end resale having. They include SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Al Gore's Generation Investment Management. The round also saw new money being pumped in from an existing group of investors including Bpifrance, Condé Nast, Eurazeo Group and Naver-backed Korelya Capital.

The previous round in March had seen the firm raising a similar amount from luminaries including Tiger Global and Kering.

So what will the new money be used for? Expansion of course. The company wants to move into new markets and also develop its tech functions and sustainability credentials with reports that it has firmly set its sights on Asian growth.

CEO Maximilian Bittner was quoted by Business Times saying: “We need to make sure that we're ready for Asia, not the other way around. Asian consumers are today the most sophisticated e-commerce shoppers in the world.”

And from that point of view, the fact that Softbank is on board could be crucial. Japan-based Softbank, which is also a key investor in UK-based The Hut Group, is a major investor behind a number of companies using technology to disrupt their sectors and to grow globally.

Vestiare Collective said Asia Pacific is its fastest-growing market with 150% growth in orders in the last 12 months. Total orders grew 90% around the world and they also doubled in the key US market.

A 2020 Boston Consulting Group report estimated the global resale market to be worth around $40 billion and another GlobalData report, commissioned by Vestiaire’s sector peer ThredUp, said global sales of secondhand items could be worth $77 billion by 2025, although profitability is a problem for some operating in the sector as the downfall of Singapore-based Reebonz recently showed.