GOAT Group (GOAT) has secured more than $300 million in funding over the past year, and it looks like the digital streetwear and sneaker marketplace is starting to share the wealth.
The global resale platform, which strives to sell “the greatest products from the past, present and future,” is leading a $60 million Series B funding in Grailed, a community-driven marketplace for men’s luxury, streetwear, sneakers and vintage fashion.
“We are incredibly excited to lead Grailed’s second funding round and partner with them to advance the experience for our two communities,” said Eddy Lu, co-founder and CEO of GOAT Group. “Grailed and GOAT share a common approach, based on authenticity, trust and a highly curated perspective on style, which is core to our brand as we bring the greatest products together from the past, present and future.”
This next phase of funding will enable Grailed to invest in serving its community of buyers and sellers, as well as enhance numerous features of its marketplace, including its digital authentication process, its payment processing system, merchandising efforts and its content strategy.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our amazing and vibrant community of enthusiastic buyers and sellers,” said Grailed CEO Arun Gupta. “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. 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.”
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With the partnership, Grailed said it aims to draw directly from its new investor’s industry expertise and insights. Both digital marketplaces offer the same categories, so many would even associate them as competitors. But with so much consumer interest in the burgeoning resale market, and money pouring in from investors, it is clear that bigger players like GOAT see a major benefit to consolidation.
On the whole, resale is estimated to be worth $77 billion by 2025, according to a report from ThredUp and GlobalData. Looking even further ahead, ThredUp put the size of the secondary market at $80 billion by 2029, up from $28 billion in 2019 when sales of secondhand clothing were growing 21 times faster than conventional apparel retail.
While GOAT is valued at $3.7 billion as of its most recent $195 Series F funding in July, and already sells more than $2 billion in estimated gross merchandise value (GMV), it actually counts fewer product listings (2 million) than Grailed does (3 million). So despite its size, GOAT can still find ways to widen its overall breadth of product offerings. The Grailed investment also comes as StockX, GOAT’s main rival with a valuation of $3.8 billion, has been the subject of ongoing IPO speculation for two years now.
Consolidation has already rewritten the landscape in 2021, particularly as resale players attempt to go global. ThredUp acquired European resale site Remix for $28.5 million; and Etsy scooped up Gen Z-beloved Depop for $1.6 billion.
Since its $15 million Series A funding in June 2018, the Grailed platform has nearly doubled in size, with over 7 million users globally and more than 3 million listings from more than 10,000 luxury labels and streetwear designers.
Other investors in the recent round include Groupe Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault family and controlling shareholder of Kering; Gucci CEO Marco Bizzari; as well as existing investors, Thrive Capital and Index Ventures. The inclusion of Groupe Artémis, which already owns a stake in GOAT, could be influential given the company’s recent focus on sustainability in the luxury category. Kering already took an undisclosed stake in luxury handbag subscription rental platform Cocoon in June.
Alongside the investment, GOAT Group chief operating officer, Yunah Lee, will be appointed to Grailed’s board of directors.