The funding is an interesting turn for a company that has seen some notable fits and starts.įounded in 2013 in Spain, it quickly shot to the top of the charts in a market that has traditionally been slow to embrace e-commerce over more traditional brick-and-mortar retail.īy 2016, Wallapop was merging with a rival, LetGo, as part of a bigger strategy to crack the U.S. Wallapop will be leaning on Naver and its technology in its own R&D, and on Naver’s side it will give the company a foothold in the European market at a time when it has been sharpening its strategy in e-commerce. Naver itself is a strong player in e-commerce and apps - it’s the company behind Asian messaging giant Line, among other digital properties - and so this is in part a strategic investment. About 20% of goods go through Envios now, Cassedy said, and the plan is to continue doubling down on that and related services. The startup has also recently been building out shipping services, called Envios, to help people get the items they are selling to buyers, which has expanded the range from local sales to those that can be made across the country. 4 ranking among Spain’s shopping apps, according to figures from App Annie. The company currently has 15 million users - about half of Spain’s internet population, CEO Rob Cassedy pointed out to us in an interview earlier today - and it has maintained a decent No. The funding is being led by Korelya Capital, a French VC fund backed by Korea’s Naver, with Accel, Insight Partners, 14W, GP Bullhound and Northzone - all previous backers of Wallapop - also participating. Wallapop has confirmed that the funding is coming at a valuation of €690 million ($840 million) - a significant jump on the $570 million pricetag sources close to the company gave us in 2016. Wallapop, a virtual marketplace based out of Barcelona, Spain that lets people resell their used items, or sell items like crafts that they make themselves, has raised €157 million ($191 million at current rates), money that it will use to continue growing the infrastructure that underpins its service, so that it can expand the number of people that use it. Today, one of the startups that saw a big lift in its service as a result of that trend is announcing a major fundraise to fuel its growth. It’s not just something that we had to do it’s been an important lifeline for many of us at a time when so little else has felt normal. Through all of the last year’s lockdowns, venue closures and other social distancing measures that governments have enacted and people have followed to slow the spread of COVID-19, shopping - and specifically e-commerce - has remained a consistent and hugely important service.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |