Vestaire Collective is buying the Virgin-backed luxury fashion marketplace in a bid to increase its presence in a growing US market.
US-based luxury fashion marketplace Tradesy agreed on Tuesday to be acquired by luxury fashion e-commerce platform Vestaire Collective for an undisclosed sum, allowing conglomerate Virgin Group to exit.
Founded in 2009, Tradesy operates an online peer-to-peer platform where users can buy and sell luxury items. The combined company is set to oversee a catalogue of 5 million items with a gross merchandise value of over $1bn and a community of some 23 million members.
Vestaire Collective claims its US gross merchandise value is on track to reach 75% year-on-year growth, based on performance since the beginning of 2022.
The merged company is expected to be well-positioned to capitalise on the US market, which is now its largest. Tradesy’s chief executive Tracy DiNuzio will assume the CEO role for the combined company’s US business.
Tradesy raised $67m in a September 2021 series D round led by Foris Ventures that brought its funding past the $140m funding mark, five years after it closed a $30m series C round featuring Kleiner Perkins, Wildcat Capital Management and Rincon Venture Partners.
Virgin took part in the company’s $43m series B round, in 2015, which was led by Kleiner Perkins and which included Rincon Venture Partners and Northgate Capital.
Vestaire Collective’s chief executive, Maximilian Bittner, said: “Today’s transaction is a key milestone for the luxury fashion resale industry. By joining forces with Tracy and her team, we continue to empower our customers to drive change by making second-hand fashion a first choice.
“With this transaction, we confirm Vestiaire Collective’s ambition to be a truly global player, promoting circularity in Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific.”
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
