1stdibs, the global online marketplace for high-end art, antiques and decorative objects, have announced a further injection of capital, giving them a total $102m fund over the past year for expansion.
The news comes just three months after the
company announced that they had wholly acquired Online Galleries,
the British-based portal favoured by LAPADA, the BADA, SLAD and
CINOA.
The latest round of funding, $42m, was led
by Index Ventures General Partner Danny Rimer and Spark Capital
General Partner Todd Dagres, who join General Partner Matt Cohler
of Benchmark - which invested in both rounds of funding - on the
1stdibs board of directors.
Spending will focus on international
expansion, marketing and the adoption of new technology, say the
company as they released figures that showed:-
• the gross merchandise volume of goods
reported sold by 1stdibs dealers will exceed $650m in 2012, up 30%
from $500 million last year;
• 1700 dealers are on the 1stdibs platform
today, up from 1200 dealers one year ago; and
• 3000 objects are now catalogued each week,
with 9000 items sold each month, up from 7000 per month reported at
the beginning of this year.
1stdibs underlined their confidence in
prospective growth by quoting a McKinsey & Company report
published on behalf of Italian luxury goods association Altagamma,
which stated that 15% of total sales in the luxury goods industry
are directly generated by digital media.
The acquisition of Online Galleries in
September added over 200 leading UK dealers to 1stdibs, and with
the addition of dealers in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France -
along with an additional 30 dealers in Italy and Spain scheduled to
join in December - the company say they will have a dealer presence
in nine countries and offer items for sale to a global buyer base
of customers from over 190 countries.
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