Wallapop Raises $88M to Grow P2P Resale Marketplace
Wallapop has reportedly raised 81 million euros (about $88 million) to grow its peer-to-peer marketplace.
The Spanish firm, whose app facilitates buying and selling secondhand products, will use the new capital to continue expanding in Europe and investing in research and development (R&D), TechCrunch reported Wednesday (Jan. 18).
The firm already expanded into Italy in 2021 and Portugal in 2022 after starting out in Spain 10 years ago, according to the report.
“In the past years, Wallapop’s expansion efforts have allowed more and more people to benefit from our fundamental purpose — facilitating a more conscious and human way of consumption that creates economic opportunities for people — which in today’s socioeconomic environment remains as relevant as ever,” Wallapop CEO Rob Cassedy said in the report.
Wallapop’s latest investment round was led by South Korean eCommerce group Naver, which bought American secondhand apparel social marketplace Poshmark in 2022, according to the report.
As PYMNTS reported Oct. 4, Naver’s acquisition of Poshmark energized the resale platform sector after months of declines that saw investors fleeing and valuations being crushed.
The firm saw value and growth opportunities in the resale space because economic factors are working in favor of platforms that allow consumers to both make money from selling stuff and save money by buying used items.
At the luxury end of the resale space, reCommerce platforms have an opportunity to turn secondhand luxury buyers into sellers and investors, Rebag founder and CEO Charles Gorra told PYMNTS in an interview posted in December 2022.
“The thesis was always that a couple of very powerful trends would emerge, one of them being the desire for sustainable commerce, and the consumer moving to an investor mindset and less of a consumer mindset, by investing in great products that last,” Gorra said at the time.
Wallapop reported in a Jan. 2 press release that it currently has 15 million users each month.
“We are focused on driving the reusing revolution within Southern Europe, prioritizing a healthy growth model that allows us to increase our impact while we scale and create a unique inventory ecosystem that can continue expanding further in our future,” Cassedy said in the TechCrunch report.