An online marketplace where clothing resale has gotten a financial shot in the arm.
TechCrunch reports that Poshmark, which began as a site for the buying and selling of women's fashion but has since expanded to also include brand new goods, has raised $25 million in a funding round led by GGV Capital.
As the outlet explains, central to Poshmark's consumer appeal is its social commerce element, with the site (as well as the company's mobile app) featuring a feed similar to Instagram, whereby users can follow their friends — keeping up with what they're buying and selling — as well as stores and brands.
"One in 50 women in America have opened up their closet on Poshmark," Founder and CEO Manish Chandra told TechCrunch, which also shares the company's statement that it "implement[s] social commerce in a way that's never been done before."
While both the new and used clothing items that are transacted using Poshmark — which has attracted 1.5 million sellers since launching five years ago, according to TechCrunch — remain centered on women's fashion, the outlet notes that the online marketplace plans to add men's and children's apparel, as well as home furnishings, to its offerings in the near future, while simultaneously having designs on expansion (from the U.S.) into Canada, Europe and Australia.
The latest investment round (which was also participated in by existing backers, including Menlo Ventures, SoftTech VC, Mayfield and AngelList) brings Poshmark's total funding so far to more than $70 million, states the TechCrunch story.
"Shopping on Poshmark is kind of like going to the mall with your girlfriends, except you never have to leave your house," Pravin Vazirani, managing director at Menlo Ventures, commented to the outlet. "Since we’ve invested in the company, they’ve grown [by 40 times]."
