Fleek Raises $20 Million to Expand Secondhand Apparel Platform

London-based startup Fleek reportedly raised $20.4 million to expand its secondhand clothing platform.

Fleek works with roughly 10,000 resellers and retailers in 70 countries, moving 2.5 million secondhand clothing items from 1,000 wholesale suppliers, TechCrunch reported Tuesday (Nov. 12. The company was founded by friends Abhi Arora, who has an MBA from Cambridge, and Sanket Agarwal, a software engineer who worked at Google.

The two wanted to launch a marketplace that would make it easier for wholesalers to sell online and for retailers to make online purchases, with Fleek taking a commission on the payments that buyers make to wholesalers, the report said.

“It turned out that the sub-continent is one of the biggest exporters and importers of used clothes,” Arora said, per the report. “Sanket and I both grew up in India. We speak the language. That really helped us connect with these wholesalers.”

The company’s Series A round included participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator,  Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and others, the report said.

The funding comes at the end of a year when many secondhand clothing platforms face obstacles when trying to turn a profit.

The value of America’s secondhand apparel market was approximately $43 billion as of 2023, and the market is projected to grow at about 11% per year through 2028.

Still, companies like ThredUp and brick-and-mortar thrift store chain Savers Value Village struggled amid slowing sales and competition from players like Goodwill and eBay.

In other news from the resale world, PYMNTS wrote last week about the potential for artificial intelligence to streamline the thrifting experience.

The technology can analyze photos and descriptions to match items and buyers, underlining an increased tension between the efficiency-focused eCommerce space and thrifting’s treasure hunt mindset.

“I believe that AI will help match consumers with the items they are looking for and, because of this, can help small business owners compete in an increasingly competitive resale marketplace,” Aaliyah Kissick, owner of thrift shop AK Boutique, told PYMNTS. “At the same time, AI can facilitate a form of novelty online by learning consumer behavior and giving intermittent reinforcement, much in the same way social media algorithms do.”