Archive (www.archiveresale.com), a tech company building the resale operating system for brands, today announced a $15 million Series A fundraise. The round is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Fernbrook Capital, G9 Ventures, and several minority investors, and brings Archive’s total funding to over $24 million. In addition to the raise, Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed, will join the company’s Board of Directors.
This fresh installment of capital comes less than a year after Archive’s seed financing and less than two years since the company launched. The funding will immediately support hiring across engineering and brand success teams to help Archive continue to innovate and scale its technology and integrations. It will also enable Archive to meet increasing demand from brands to incorporate resale into their businesses, and accelerate upcoming launches across North America and Europe.
“Resale is a massive online category already and growing three times as fast as new apparel sales,” said Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed and Archive Board Member. “Archive has become the standard of choice for well-known brands from Oscar de la Renta to The North Face, that want to embed resale into their supply chain. Emily, Ryan, and team have quickly built the best-in-class solution to integrate resale across all shopping channels and distribution operations. Lightspeed was fortunate to co-lead Archive’s Seed round earlier this year, and we’re delighted to deepen our partnership and lead the company’s Series A.”
Archive is known for building highly differentiated resale programs that seamlessly integrate with a company’s consumer experience. While each program is unique, they are all built on Archive’s customizable tech platform or “resale operating system.” The platform enables brands to deliver a consistent, premium experience for customers across all markets and channels (physical and digital) and access real-time data on sales, sell-through, conversion, CRM performance and more. The programs can also integrate with Archive’s proprietary Re-commerce Warehouse Management Software (RWMS).
Archive’s comprehensive technology has launched a range of resale models for brands including peer-to-peer, managed, in-store takeback, and more. Custom features have included donation and auction capabilities, product video embedded in the shopping experience, and a proprietary mobile app to efficiently manage the user experience for store associates and consumers across a take back program in 100+ The North Face stores. Each resale program is designed to meet a brand’s unique goals and easily integrate with their logistics network to scale existing and future circularity efforts.
The company’s ultimate mission is to move the retail industry towards less production by extending the lifecycle of products and making resale an option for everyone. To achieve this, Archive is focused on helping brands generate revenue without new production.
“We’re building a future where circular business models are standard for every brand and a serious revenue driver,” said Emily Gittins, Co-Founder and CEO of Archive. “The customer response to Archive’s resale experiences has been extraordinary. This new funding will allow us to more rapidly help the world’s most innovative brands launch circular models and shape the future of retail.”
Archive’s resale experiences have proven that offering resale increases customer engagement, drives up a customer’s lifetime value and leads to new customer acquisition. For example, in one Archive program, one in two resale customers were new to the brand; one-third of all resale customers also placed an order on the brand’s main ecommerce site within the same period. When reselling items, the majority of customers from Archive’s partners choose brand shopping credit versus cash and spend three times that amount on their next piece from the brand.
The resale market continues to accelerate and is expected to double to nearly $200 billion by 2025. Brands launching resale are driving the next phase of consumer adoption.
Archive is currently live with a diverse group of future-minded consumer brands, with many more set to launch in early 2023. A few brand partners include The North Face (Renewed Marketplace), Oscar de la Renta (Encore), Cuyana (Revive), Marimekko (Pre-loved), Dagne Dover (Almost Vintage), Sandro (Sandro Secondhand), 3.1 Phillip Lim (3.1 Archive), M.M. LaFleur (Second Act), and Filippa K. (Preowned).
In addition to its venture capital backers, Archive received investments from industry leaders Julie Bornstein, Chief Shopping Officer at Pinterest and Founder of The Yes, Kerry Cooper, former President of Rothy’s, Adrienne Lazarus, former CEO of Frye and Bandier, Lisa Bougie, former GM at Stitch Fix and Nike, Wendy Yang, former President of Hoka, Dawn Dobras, former CEO of Credo Beauty, and Marigay McKee, former President of Saks Fifth Avenue and Co-founder of Fernbrook Capital Management.
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