Treet, a company rethinking the resale retail market, announced the close of a $2.8 million seed round today. The financing comes from Bling Capital, Matchstick Ventures, Techstars, BABM Ventures, BBG Ventures, Green Meadow, Interlace Ventures, V1.VC, and Alante Capital.
Despite the fact that selling old clothes is the most sustainable, and most financially beneficial way to dispose of them, the process can be super tedious for both sellers and buyers.
Treet’s approach to simplifying its market and lowering consumer friction is to go through brands. Essentially, Treet helps brands set up their own resale sites where buyers and sellers can list and find items. Because Treet is tied in with the brand itself, sellers can easily list their items based on SKU and buyers can trust that the items they’re browsing are the real deal.
For brands, they get the chance to own their secondhand market and potentially gain new customers. The company says that 30 percent of buyers on Treet haven’t purchased directly from the brand before.
Involving brands benefits Treet in a big way, too. Brands are best positioned to know who has their items, and can send emails and messaging encouraging resale through Treet. They also have the distribution to put potential customers on to the resale site.
Treet gives sellers two options to redeem their funds. If they choose cash, a ten percent cut goes to the brand and a ten percent cut goes to Treet. If they choose to redeem via brand credit, only Treet takes 10 percent.
The startup’s customer list currently includes Boyish, Coclico, Altar, and époque évolution, with Goodfair and Birdy Grey launching soon.
“The greatest challenge is brands being hesitant about getting into resale,” said cofounder and CEO Jake Disraeli. “For a brand, promoting a used item with lesser margins is kind of a scary thought. We’re starting to prove out that they can expand their potential customer base and give brands the chance to participate alongside their customers who are reselling items on third-party platforms anyway.”
The clothing and fashion startup market has been active in recent quarters. The Real Real went public back in 2019, Poshmark went public last year, while fellow resale company ThreadUp held an IPO this year, and UK-based Lyst raised $85 million the other week. Treet’s funding fits neatly into the theme.