Online vendor for women shoppers to be an app on Apple Watch.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Poshmark, a company that allows women to buy and sell secondhand clothing, shoes, and accessories from their smartphones, announced $25 million in Series C funding last week. It simultaneously unveiled plans to port their app to the Apple Watch.
Investors include Mayfield, Menlo Ventures, Inventus Capital, Union Grove Venture Partners, Shea Ventures, and SoftTech VC; to date, Poshmark has raised $47.2 million in outside capital, according to TechCrunch.
The Menlo Park, California-based company claims to sell roughly $17 million worth of goods on its platform each month, taking a 20% cut on sales, reported Fortune.
The online vendor attributes at least part of its appeal to giving its users the ability to curate their best items and create followers for their style. The company claims over 700,000 sellers, including top sellers it says are making north of six figures, reported VentureBeat.
Poshmark also distinguishes itself by not playing the middleman when it comes to managing the transactions that take place on its platform. Instead, Poshmark’s buyers and sellers connect with each other directly, similar to a service like eBay, wrote TechCrunch.
Founder/CEO Manish Chandra told VentureBeat via email that Poshmark’s social and commerce model works so well that “traditional marketplaces will no longer exist as people begin to crave personal connections that have gotten lost in e-commerce.”
Fortune magazine disclosed Poshmark will use its new funding to sell more than just secondhand goods to its engaged community. Currently, one-fifth of Poshmark’s inventory is not secondhand, and power sellers are increasingly using the platform to sell goods they acquired wholesale.
Poshmark intends to encourage this behavior while establishing partnerships with major brands in order to sell more new goods directly to users over the platform.