Why We Invested · Notable Capital
Investment thesis
Investing in Poshmark was a bet that social commerce could disrupt the multi-trillion-dollar global e-commerce market.
Most importantly, our investment in Poshmark was a bet on “social commerce,” a phenomenon that we thought has the potential to shake up the multi-trillion-dollar global e-commerce market.
Poshmark's potential lies in expanding across male users, new goods, non-fashion verticals, and international geographies.
Our view at the time of our investment in 2016 was that the potential for Poshmark exists in the expansion across four key segments: 1. Gender: expanding user base from women to men. 2. New goods: expanding product offering beyond used goods to new goods. 3. Verticals: expanding categories beyond fashion to home goods, kids, and others. 4. Geographies: expanding user base beyond the US over time.
Product
Poshmark introduced Poshmark Stylist Match, an algorithmic feature connecting users with seller stylists for personalized styling assistance.
In addition to the new round of financing, Poshmark introduced a new feature, Poshmark Stylist Match, that allows users to match with a Seller Stylist on the app, thanks to Poshmark's algorithms.
Traction
Over 250,000 sellers on Poshmark operate as boutique stores.
Today, more than 250,000 of its sellers are now boutique stores.
Poshmark has empowered 3 million peer-to-peer seller stylists to become entrepreneurs on its platform.
Moreover, Poshmark has empowered many of its 3 million peer-to-peer “Seller Stylists" to become entrepreneurs - in the same way that Alibaba's (where GGV was an early investor) Taobao has enabled millions of small- and medium-sized businesses to find an audience.
Team
Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra personally speaks with 100 community members every week to foster an inclusive platform.
Cultivating an inclusive community takes a team that listens. Manish himself talks to 100 members of the Poshmark community every week.
What founders can learn
- The traction evidence that carried weight: Notable Capital wrote that Over 250,000 sellers on Poshmark operate as boutique stores.
- How the team was judged: Notable Capital wrote that Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra personally speaks with 100 community members every week to foster an inclusive platform.
Source and provenance
Why We Invested published by Notable Capital on notablecap.com (first-party source). Read the original
