StockX announced it has raised $275 million in a Series E funding round that values the live marketplace at $2.8 billion post-money.
The investment will be used to accelerate global expansion, innovation and category diversification for the e-commerce marketplace. In the third quarter, StockX surpassed $3 billion in lifetime gross merchandise value (GMV). During 2020, StockX’s year-over-year revenue growth has accelerated, reaching over 75 percent in Q3 on over $100 million in quarterly GAAP revenue.
Led by Tiger Global Management, LLC with new participation from Altimeter Capital, Sands Capital and Whale Rock Capital Management, the raise marks the largest VC funding round in Michigan history and brings the total funds raised to $490 million. The new investors bring to the table experience in the technology, consumer and e-commerce sectors having invested in platforms including Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, Shopify, Spotify, and Uber. They join Battery Ventures, DST Global, Detroit Venture Partners, Galaxy Interactive, GGV Capital, GV, General Atlantic, and Marcy Venture Partners (Co-founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter) as investors in the e-commerce platform.
“The quality of investors joining us is a clear signal that the market recognizes that there is an incredible opportunity in e-commerce for current culture products, and StockX is best positioned to meet consumer demand for those products,” said StockX CEO Scott Cutler. “I’m thrilled to welcome our new partners to the team. Their collective expertise will be invaluable as we continue to build on the momentum from the last year and drive the growth to cement StockX’s position as the global marketplace leader.”
As of the end of Q3, the company surpassed 13 million lifetime trades (StockX’s metric of transactions between buyers and sellers), 50 percent of which were in the prior 12 months. Additionally, during Q3, StockX saw an average of 25 million global visitors per month.
“The power of the online marketplace is growing rapidly — along with our reliance on digital experiences,” said Griffin Schroeder, partner, Tiger Global. “The StockX team has demonstrated the ability to build a trusted and customer-centric experience for people buying and selling online, and we are excited to partner with them as they continue to innovate a tech-forward model to deliver much-needed authenticity and price transparency in this market.”
Growing International Footprint
In less than five years, StockX said it now processing sales in more than 200 countries and territories. Thanks to the liquidity and diversity of its global marketplace, StockX saw non-U.S. sell-side trades increase 260 percent in Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019. In November, the company opened authentication centers — operation hubs at which all products bought and sold on StockX are verified using a proprietary process — in Hong Kong and Toronto furthering its ability to serve buyers and sellers globally. The two international sites, along with the recent addition of an authentication center in Portland, OR, grew the company’s global network by 50 percent.
Accelerated Category Expansion
StockX sells sneakers, apparel, accessories, collectibles, and electronics — a category that has become the second largest on its platform. Throughout Cyber weekend, more than one gaming console was traded every minute on StockX with both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 ranking on its list of Top 10 best-selling products. The company’s recent category expansion has made for a wide-ranging catalog, which includes more than 115,000 products, and helped the platform attract a record number of first-time customers in 2020.
Photo courtesy StockX
