As technology continues to proliferate, investors’ money flows along with it.
Fleek, a United Kingdom-based startup, is one of the latest examples of financiers’ penchant for artificial intelligence and other budding technologies.
More from Sourcing Journal
-
Byte-Sized AI: Nordstrom Uses AI for Discoverability; Vecna Scores More Cash for Robotics
-
Exclusive: Bluecore Acquires Alby for Gen AI Shopping Assistant Tech
The startup announced this week that it had secured $20.4 million in total funding, from both a $14.8 million Series A round and a $5.6 million seed round. HV Capital led the Series A, with additional participation from Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Other investors included Sean Plaice, chief technology of Postmates; Harvey Finkelstein, president of Shopify and Maria Raga, who formerly served as CEO of Depop.
Fleek uses predictive analytics to help suppliers and buyers forecast trends for the resale industry and connects wholesale resale sellers to buyers looking to make bulk purchases. On the company’s site, buyers can procure items in bulk based on style, brand, era or other specifications.
For instance, resellers can buy 13 “crazy animal-printed fleece jackets” for $240—just over $18 a piece—or can snatch up a bundle of 20 Burberry trench coats for $2,081—or about $104 each.
Every listing on Fleek has imagery or videos of the products on offer, as well as information about the “grade”—or condition—of the items in each bundle. The company’s site notes that it has over 1,000 wholesale suppliers offering over 200,000 items for sale. According to TechCrunch, those suppliers hail from places like Dubai, India and Pakistan and serve the platform’s 10,000 buyers in about 70 countries.
In turn, the buyers can resell the items to their respective customers, whether through digital platforms like Poshmark, eBay and Depop or through traditional secondhand retail stores. Earlier this year, eMarketer projected that the U.S. resale market alone would grow by 3.4 percent year on year in 2024, as compared with 2023. The firm also expects recommerce to continue on the up and up through at least 2028.
According to HV Capital, Fleek will use the money from the fundraising rounds for “global expansion, bringing more suppliers into the fold and making it easier for resellers, retailers and even high-street chains to enter the secondhand market.”
Offerup data from September shows that, among U.S. consumers, six in 10 say buying via resale platforms gives them access to better-quality goods than purchasing new items because of the importance they place on durability and sustainability.