Goat Group Acquires Resale Marketplace Grailed
Goat Group, the Los Angeles-based sneaker platform, has acquired Grailed, a resale marketplace for men’s streetwear, vintage apparel and footwear, in a cash and stock deal. No further details were disclosed.
The acquisition follows an investment in September 2021 when Goat Group, with participation from Groupe Artémis, Thrive Capital and Index Ventures, closed a Series B funding round of $60 million for Grailed.
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The acquisition will bring together more than 50 million members in 170 countries.
“Grailed is a leader in the men’s fashion resale market with a strong community of style enthusiasts,” said Eddy Lu, cofounder and chief executive officer of Goat Group. “We have always admired what they created for the fashion industry and we will continue to build upon their strengths and position as a leader in the space. Together we’ll advance our collective mission to bring the greatest products together from the past, present and future, while also delivering innovative and memorable experiences to our community around the world.”
Since launching its apparel and accessories offering in 2019, Goat has experienced significant growth in these categories, with orders more than doubling over the past year, the company said. The acquisition of Grailed is expected to further accelerate growth in these categories by offering a wide assortment.
“With its uncompromising brand identity, Goat Group is the perfect complement to Grailed’s cutting-edge community of fashion enthusiasts,” said Arun Gupta, cofounder and CEO of Grailed. “Goat Group stands out in the industry as the right partner to help make fashion more accessible to the global style community.”
The two companies will operate independently until the acquisition closes, which is expected to be in about 45 days.
Goat Group operates three brands: Goat, Flight Club and Alias and has more than 40 million members. Grailed, which was founded in 2013, offers resale product from high-end brands including Raf Simons, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and others.
According to a Goat spokesperson, the brand will continue to operate independently once the acquisition is completed with Gupta remaining at the helm as part of the Goat Group executive team. This is similar to the strategy employed when Flight Club was acquired in 2018.
Goat’s acquisition of Grailed marks further consolidation in the online resale market, which has seen explosive growth and the entrance of numerous players, many of which remain unprofitable. Earlier this month Poshmark, one of the pioneers in the space, was acquired for $1.2 billion by South Korea’s Naver. The deal represented an abrupt reversal for the social selling platform, which went public last year only to see its share price and valuation decline sharply. Naver’s $1.2 billion purchase price was a deep discount on Poshmark’s valuation, which had one point had reached $7.4 billion.
