// Luxury resale platform Vestiaire Collective raises £153.91m in additional funding
// The fundraising now values the retailer at £1.2 billion
Vestiaire Collective, the platform selling pre-owned luxury goods has raised £153.91 million in funding, six months after a previous funding round.
It means the firm is now valued at £1.2 billion.
Tech investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and sustainability investors Generation Investment Management backed the round in which existing shareholders Bpifrance, Condé Nast, Eurazeo and certain funds managed by Fidelity International and Koreyla Capital reinvested.
“The additional funding will provide considerable financial flexibility to Vestiaire Collective, a certified B Corp, allowing the company to further accelerate towards its longterm objectives in a highly attractive segment within the circular economy,” the retailer said in a statement released Wednesday.
The previous round in March had seen the firm raising a similar amount from luminaries including Tiger Global and Kering.
The new funds are now expected to fuel the retailer’s expansion as the business looks to move into new markets and also develop its tech functions and sustainability credentials with reports that it has firmly set its sights on Asian growth.
Vestiaire Collective chief executive Maximilian Bittner was quoted by Business Times saying: “We need to make sure that we’re ready for Asia, not the other way around. Asian consumers are today the most sophisticated e-commerce shoppers in the world.”
During the past 12 months, the business increased its number of orders by more than 90 per cent globally.
In the U.S., the uptick was 100 per cent, making the country the platform’s largest market today. Meanwhile, orders grew by 150 per cent in Asia.
In March, Kering snagged a 5 percent stake and board representation in Vestiaire Collective.
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