SoftBank, Al Gore's Generation back luxury resale marketplace Vestiaire Collective in US$210m round

VESTIAIRE Collective, a marketplace for second hand luxury items, has raised another US$210 million just six months after its previous round, moving to aggressively capture a bigger slice of a booming online resale market.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Al Gore's Generation Investment Management led the round, giving the European startup a US$1.7 billion valuation. Existing investors including Bpifrance, Condé Nast, Eurazeo Group and Naver-backed Korelya Capital put more money in too.

The deal comes hot on the heels of Vestiaire Collective's previous fundraise in March, where Tiger Global and Gucci-owner Kering led the US$216 million round. Fresh funds will be used to expand in new markets, as well as develop its tech functions, the company said.

"In many of our markets, we still have very low market penetration. We see growth opportunities everywhere we look, so we need to take advantage of that," chief executive Maximilian Bittner told The Business Times.

Mr Bittner, who was the founder and ex-CEO of e-commerce platform Lazada, said the Paris-based startup will "potentially be more aggressive" in expanding across Asia.

"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."

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The startup could leverage new shareholder SoftBank to crack Asia and make further inroads into one of the most competitive e-commerce spaces in the world.

Yanni Pipilis, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, said that with the platform's focus on the circular economy and an asset-light model, it is "well positioned to scale globally".

So far, Vestiaire Collective has seen some promising statistics. Mr Bittner declined to provide revenue figures but said the number of orders in Asia Pacific grew by over 150 per cent in the last 12 months, making the region its fastest-growing market. Singapore contributes 15 per cent to its Asia Pacific business.

It is an opportune time for the 12-year-old startup to make a concerted push into the region. The downfall of luxury online marketplace Reebonz in Singapore has left some gaps in the market, and the Covid-19 pandemic has driven more housebound shoppers online.

In a 2020 report, Boston Consulting Group estimated the global resale market to be worth about US$40 billion.

Vestiaire Collective has since opened an office in Singapore, currently its only office in South-east Asia. The startup could also face some competition from local player Carousell, who is also planning to step up its offering in the second hand luxury goods space.

Online marketplaces for resale items have been growing rapidly, but are still struggling to make ends meet. Reebonz in Singapore recently buckled under liabilities of about S$65 million, and appointed a provisional liquidator to wind up the company.

Mr Bittner said: "The two big gaps I see are trust and inspiration. We want to make sure that customers who buy a Hermes Birkin bag or a Patek Phillipe watch - which can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars - can trust the platform and have an incredible experience."

Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group, will join Vestiaire Collective's board of directors, with Generation Investment Management taking an observer seat.

Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisor to Vestiaire Collective for the financing round.