Grailed, a resale site for luxury menswear, announced Thursday it closed on a $60 million Series B led by GOAT Group, a rival sneaker resale startup that is now a strategic partner in light of the deal. Other investors include Thrive Capital, Index Ventures and Gucci CEO Marco Bizzari.
Founded in 2014, Grailed claims to be the largest marketplace for men’s luxury streetwear and sneakers, offering popular brands like Givenchy, Dior and Supreme. If a user is looking to clear out their closet and make some money, all they have to do is upload pictures of their item to the website and set a price. After the item is digitally authenticated, it is sold directly to consumers.
This latest investment is coming at a time when the clothing resale space has been getting quite a bit of investor attention. GOAT itself recently raised a $195 million Series F, valuing the six-year-old company at $3.7 billion. And, just this week, Tradesy, another marketplace for secondhand luxury fashion, got a $67 million funding round. Meanwhile, Depop, a favorite among Gen Zs, was snapped up by e-commerce giant Etsy for $1.6 billion over the summer.
While Grailed is fairly small compared to some of these other players, the company says it has nearly doubled its business since its last raise — a $15 million Series A back in 2018 — and now has more than seven million users globally. This fresh funding will go towards beefing up its authentication process and adding new features for both sellers and buyers. Grailed is also hiring, with more than a dozen open tech positions at its office in SoHo.
In a press release, Grailed also said this new strategic partnership with GOAT means it can draw directly from the LA-based startup’s “expertise and insights in the industry.”
“In GOAT Group, we saw an incredibly like-minded partner who is just as passionate and forward-thinking about the global fashion community as we are,” Grailed CEO Arun Gupta said in a statement. “With GOAT’s investment, we are excited to deliver powerful new features across the platform and to double-down on our bold innovations in authentication at an even faster pace.”
Meanwhile, this is GOAT’s first outside investment in the industry, and the company told Vogue it is not exploring any others at the moment. Still, this alliance between competitors could be an indication of more alliances down the road as the industry continues to grow.
