BRISBANE — Trove, which operates a resale platform for top chains including lululemon, Patagonia, REI, Nordstrom, Levi’s, Eileen Fisher, Arc’teryx and other leading brands, has closed a $77.5 million Series D funding round led by G2 Venture Partners, bringing Trove’s total funding to date to $122.5 million.
Other participants in the round included Bank of Montreal, Capital One Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Wellington Management and all of Trove’s existing board investors. The company will use the new funding to significantly expand its roster of brand partners, strengthen its technology and logistics infrastructure, enter the luxury vertical, and service a new customer audience in Europe.
“Consumer demand for resale is soaring and premium brands know it’s now a strategic imperative to control their brand and stay close to their customers by owning their trade-in and resale channels instead of handing them over to third-party marketplaces,” said Andy Ruben, CEO of Trove. “We’re thrilled to join forces with this group of prestigious investors to accelerate our expansion efforts and enable more brands and retailers to build successful resale channels that help them deepen their relationships with customers and reduce their environmental impact.”
Recommerce will account for 14% of the apparel, footwear and accessories market by 2024, or roughly $60 billion, up from about 7% in 2020, according to research from Cowen. As resale sees skyrocketing growth, Trove is providing the technology platform and logistics brands need to control their own recommerce channels, allowing them to own their customer relationships and data, generate additional revenue, attract new and younger consumers to their brand, deepen customer loyalty, and drive sustainability by increasing the lifespan of their products. In 2020, Trove processed nearly 1 million unique items and managed over 10 million catalog records, triple the number in 2019.
“The fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to climate change, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined, and recommerce has the potential to cut that footprint in half,” said G2 Venture Partners Founding Partner Brook Porter. “Trove is the undisputed market leader in branded recommerce, given its scale, expertise and momentum. We’re proud to partner with Andy and his team to accelerate Trove’s expansion and lead the apparel industry toward a more sustainable future.”
Trove recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation network, which supports businesses that promote a circular economy across three sustainability principles, designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.