Chinese luxury resale platform Plum bags $100 million in funding
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Plum, a used luxury fashion e-commerce platform, announced on November 1 that it had completed a C round of financing worth $100 million. In this round, Zhuanzhuan, a Tencent-backed leading used goods trading marketplace in China, made the strategic investment. Xu Wei, founder and CEO of Plum, said that the funds will be mainly for upgrades in service, user experience, product R&D and database construction.
Plum was established in 2017. The platform focuses on second-hand luxury goods trading, and its products cover all categories of fashion trends such as bags, shoes, clothing, jewelry and watches. According to statistics published by Aurora Mobile, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of monthly active users of Plum exceeded that of Secoo, a famous luxury e-commerce platform in China, ranking first among the luxury e-commerce platforms. In addition, Plum’s business has achieved rapid growth this year, and its business income has doubled since 2022 compared with the same period of last year.
Apart from Xu Wei, Plum was jointly founded by Pang Bo. CEO Xu Wei is the co-founder of Blink and served as the investment director at Sinovation Ventures. She is said to be a serial entrepreneur. Pang Bo is currently the CTO of Plum, who is a former senior engineer of Baidu, and has more than 10 years of technical management experience.
In recent years, Plum is investing in improving its standardized service capabilities, focusing on building key modules in the performance operating system such as commodity identification, commodity information and price database. It aims to build the largest second-hand fashion transaction database in China.
The cooperation between Plum and Zhuanzhuan, two second-hand trading platforms, is not only reflected in the capital level. Before this financing, Plum’s products had been available through Zhuanzhuan and other “exclusive” channels such as bags, accessories, designer shoes, watches and clothing. Plum’s products complement the other’s core 3C (Computer, Communication and Consumer Electronics) category. In addition, Plum will also do commodity recycling in Zhuanzhuan’s channel.
The rational and low-carbon consumption concept is gaining traction and second-hand trading such as used cars, 3C items and books continue to prosper. According to an industry research report by Frost & Sullivan, the transaction scale of second-hand idle goods in China has increased from about 300 billion yuan ($41.2 billion) in 2015 to over one trillion yuan in 2020, and it is estimated that this figure will reach nearly 3 trillion yuan by 2025.
Questions & Answers
Q.How will Plum use the recently secured financing?
How will Plum use the recently secured financing?
The funds will primarily be allocated towards enhancing service, improving user experience, developing new products through R&D, and constructing a robust database. This aims to bolster Plum's operational capabilities across key areas.
Q.What is Plum's standing in the Chinese luxury e-commerce market?
What is Plum's standing in the Chinese luxury e-commerce market?
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Plum's monthly active users surpassed those of Secoo, a prominent luxury e-commerce platform in China. This positioned Plum as the leading luxury e-commerce platform by active users at that time.
Q.How does Zhuanzhuan's investment complement Plum's business?
How does Zhuanzhuan's investment complement Plum's business?
Zhuanzhuan, a leading used goods marketplace, has invested strategically in Plum. Their cooperation extends beyond capital, with Plum's products previously available via Zhuanzhuan, complementing its core 3C category. Plum will also recycle goods through Zhuanzhuan's channels.