Kidizen, a marketplace for secondhand children’s apparel, has raised $3.2 million in Series A funding, the company announced today. The funding was led by..
Kidizen , a marketplace for secondhand children’s apparel, has raised $3.2 million in Series A funding, the company announced today. The funding was led by Chicago-based Origin Ventures, who backed the startup following its over 100 percent year-over-year growth in 2016, which has allowed the business to reach over a quarter million registered users across the U. S.
Also participating in the round were Royal Street Ventures, Corigin Ventures, and Mergelane. Prior investors Sofia Fund and Gopher Angels joined, too. Brent Hill, a partner at Origin Ventures, and Laura Brady, partner at Royal Street Ventures, will join the company’s Board of Directors, as a result of the funding.
The mobile-first store was founded in February 2014 , and is run by three parents, Mary Fallon, Dori Graff, and CEO and co-founder Dug Nichols.
The idea had first emerged from Fallon’s and Graff’s earlier platform, Itizen , launched in 2010, which tracked the stories attached to collectible items as they changed hands. But they realized their users were interested more in a marketplace for buying and selling items, not tracking them.
The Kidizen mobile app was soon born, allowing parents to snap photos of their kid’s clothes and other items , like accessories and shoes, or even baby gear and toys, in order to resell them to other parents in need.
However, unlike secondhand marketplaces such as ThredUp, sales are not limited to high-end apparel. Parents can list lesser quality clothing, post lots, or post pieces individually. However, the majority of the listings tend to be mid-to-high end apparel, or boutique clothing, given the better potential for sales.
