Swap.com
Deal: $20 million
Investors: eEquity, a Swedish private equity firm
What they do: Swap, an online consignment and thrift store, raised $20 million this week, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sellers can list items like men's, women's, and children's clothes on Swap, and the startup charges $1.50 plus 30% of the transaction price. Swap has an online inventory of about 1.5 million items, and co-founder Juha Koponen told the Journal that the site has been poplar with people in rural areas who don't have access to malls and brick-and-mortar consignment shops.
Other details: The new round of funding brings Swap's total amount of capital raised to $50 million. The company launched in Boston in 2012, but the company relocated to Bollingbrook, IL a year later, where it opened its fulfillment center. Koponen told the Journal that revenue has doubled in 2016 compared to last year, and the startup will use the funding to expand its staff.
Swap competes in the same space as companies like Chicago's Luxury Garage Sale, as well as well-funded startups like ThredUp, which has raised more than $130 million, and Tradesy, which has raised more than $70 million. Chicago kids clothing startup Runchkins is also entering the space as it will buy back your used clothes and resell the inventory on its site.
Image via Swap.com
