Treet is trying to bring resale to everyone — and now has $10 million in series A funding to make it happen.
While many of the resale pioneers like The RealReal Inc. struggled through a phase that saw them getting mired down in the costly business of owning inventory, Treet started off with an asset-light model that has it facilitating the process and putting brands out front.
The company powers resale for more than 150 brands, including Girlfriend Collective, Ministry of Supply and the recently added bridal brand Galia Lahav.
“We help brands grow their business through resale,” said Jake Disraeli, who cofounded Treet with Sonia Yang and leads the business as chief executive officer. “We help them do it very quickly. Brands can launch their entire branded resale experience in a matter of days.”
It’s an approach that Disraeli said can be profitable for brands on day one.
Treet offers a variety of ways for brands to get into resale. But 90 percent of the companies that Treet works with have chosen to go with a peer-to-peer approach that has the platform and brand acting as matchmakers for people buying and selling its styles secondhand.
“We send prepaid shipping labels to the seller,” Disraeli said. “Once that item is received and verified, then the seller can either get 80 percent of the selling price in cash or a 100 to 110 percent credit” for the brand.
The process is handled on a website tied to the brand itself — Treet is in the background — and third-party logistics companies handle the actual goods.
About 60 percent of sellers using Treet’s platform choose to take the credit instead of the cash, funneling the seller back to the brand for a repeat purchase.
That helps the companies that make the goods initially get a piece of the action when their styles hit the secondhand market.
“I think we all believe that the future of resale will be powered by brands,” Disraeli said. “The writing’s on the wall, brands have a lot of data when it comes to their customers. We can create unique and differentiated resale experiences because we have the brand’s data.
“For instance, if you go to any of our resale sites, you can order directly from your order history,” he said. “We integrate with brands’ loyalty systems. It feels very clean because we pull in stock photos and photography and it’s trusted.”
Treet, which is still in building mode having just started to take on brands in 2021, doesn’t yet make money, but Disraeli said the brands that use the site operate in the black, at least in the resale part of their business.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that all of our resale experiences are profitable, meaning they’re making more money than they’re spending on resale,” he said. “We depend on our commission through the sales and so we are really aligned with brands to make sure that when they make money, we’re making money.”
Two Sigma Ventures led the series A investment, with additional money from existing investors First Round Capital, Bling Capital and Techstars.
