Although the funding environment for startups is now more challenging, some companies and industries still attract investor attention and funding. The luxury fashion resale market is he one of those markets in Asia.
creamA resale platform that buys, sells, and trades luxury goods such as handbags, clothing, and accessories.When it raised a $78 million (100 billion won) Series B round in October 2021,
Returning backer Altos Ventures led Kream’s latest funding round, with participation from Naver, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Mirae Asset Capital, and new investors Samsung Securities and Axiom Asia.
cream spun off snowis Naver’s camera app-focused division in January 2021, and in March 2021 raised its first round of funding (approximately $15.6 million (20 billion won) from investors including SoftBank Ventures Korea and Altos Ventures. ) has been secured. Since its inception, he has raised over $266 million in funding to date.
Kream has made a number of minority investments in peer companies based in Asia, including: japanese soda,Thai’s Sasom and Malaysian sneaker platform Shake HandsMore investments will be made, mainly in Asia, Chief Business Officer (CBO) Mingook Kim told TechCrunch. The company’s long-term goal is to strategically connect his Asia-based C2C resell platform, allowing consumers to resell and buy through his Kream and its C2C resell affiliates, Kim said. added.
With its Series C funding, Kream also plans to add luxury and emerging brands to its platform and hire more staff. About 100 employees are currently working.
Two years after its founding, the company says it now has 5.3 million monthly active users, an increase of about 2.5 times from 2.2 million MAU in October 2021. Its gross merchandise volume (GMV) surged 270% and 190% in Q3 and Q4, respectively. According to the company, 2022 will be year-on-year. Currently, he has over 290,000 items listed on Kream.
Kream sees StockX and Hong Kong-based POIZON as its closest peers and luxury resale platforms such as Rebag, The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective.
One of the problems with C2C resale platforms is counterfeit goods, especially luxury goods.
“Kream sought to solve product reliability and inconvenient transaction processes, which are the most uncomfortable things that customers feel when using a C2C reselling platform,” Kim said when asked about its differentiators. I was. “Kream has secured the most data in Korea to guarantee genuine products. ”
After a seller lists an item on the platform, the item is sent to Kream’s inspection center to verify whether it is genuine or counterfeit. If the internal inspection is passed, the seller can continue to do business with the buyer. (If found to be counterfeit, the seller cannot trade the product on the platform.) Once the transaction is completed between consumers, refunds are not possible, but the buyer can resell it via the platform. , said a company spokesperson.
Estimated at $30 billion in 2020, the luxury resale market is projected to continue exponentially over the next decade with an annual growth rate of 10-15%. Recent report by McKinsey.
