Anyone who pays attention to fashion and trending streetwear will undoubtedly have encountered StockX. Even those hunting down a good price on a PlayStation 5 or Tesla Truck accessories will likely have found themselves exploring the live market mechanics of one of the hottest resale sites in retail. Air Jordans, Adidas Yeezy, retro collectables, and designer luxury goods of all kinds make up the ever-growing catalogue of StockX that exploded in growth during the past lockdown period. With the possibility of an IPO coming up later this year, we have a full breakdown of who StockX is and why the company matters to any informed tech or early-stage investor.
What Is StockX?
StockX is a resale marketplace that allows users to buy and sell everything from the hottest sneakers and fashion to collectables, consumer electronics, NFTS, and phones. Sneakers and streetwear are the leading product lines on this market that operates and functions from a user perspective, just like a live stock market. The firm that opened in 2020 allows sellers to place a ‘Bid’ or ‘Buy Now’ order while letting sellers place an ‘Ask’ or ‘Sell Now.’ Bidding and buying take place in real-time, and in this way, the real “fair” second-hand value for each item is reached.
StockX Valuation
The Detroit-founded company became profitable halfway through 2020, just five short years after its launch. StockX is backed by some of the biggest institutional investors around as well as several celebrity investors. Battery Ventures, GV, or the company formerly known as Google Ventures, Eminem, and Mark Wahlberg are among the initial investors. By 2019, StockX reached a $1 billion valuation, and just a single year later, the valuation skyrocketed to $3.8 billion after $275 million in Series E funding was procured in December of 2020.
StockX Competition & Comparison
StockX is working in collaboration with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to prepare its upcoming IPO. As a not yet listed company, limited information concerning company revenue and profits is available. This being said, StockX boasted over $400 million in revenue with a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $1.8 billion for 2020. It took the publicly listed competitor Billy Goat Brands (CNSX: GOAT), until 2021 since being founded in 2015 to reach a $2 billion GMV but StockX already has greater global coverage and more subscribers when you factor in the diverse portfolio of misrelated companies spanning food and nutraceuticals included in the GOAT’s umbrella.
Ongoing Resale IPO Boom
The resale market is more popular now than ever. Over the next five years, Forbes feels the market will double at the very least. Retailers like Nike have realised that they need a presence and have begun to launch programs like Nike Refurbished, which was rolled out from April 2021. AllBird started a trade-in initiative called ReRun. Businesses like The RealReal, Rent the Runway, ThredUp, GOAT, and Poshmark are all vying for their piece of the pie. According to data from luxury marketplace The RealReal (NASDAQ: REAL), roughly forty percent of its shoppers are opting for resale fashion instead of fast fashion as is found shopping conventionally online. Furthermore, the advent of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) forespells massive opportunity for resale marketplaces like StockX, which has already launched a huge selection of non-fungibles matched to leading footwear, design and fashion brands.
StockX IPO On The Way – Should You Buy In?
Investors have been eagerly awaiting a potential StockX IPO since halfway through 2021, but it finally seems that the big day will arrive within the first half of 2022 if Bloomberg sources are correct. With giants like Tiger Global Management (Patreon, Hinge Health, Side), Altimeter Capital (Airbyte, Roblox, Grab, Plaid), Dragoneer (GameStop, Productboard, Branch), Marcy Venture Partners (co-founded by Jay-Z), DST Global (Flexport, Wayflyer, Sezzle), and GGV Capital (Tindle, Cygnus, Realm) backing StockX, many investors are wondering whether they should do the same. With revenue rising 75% year-on-year, giants like Nike threatened to the point of suing StockX over NFTs, and 2022 expected to dwarf the expansion of all previous years, all signs are certainly starting to point toward an investment with great potential.
Note: Please do not invest money or assets in the financial markets that you cannot afford to lose. This article should not be construed to be investment advice and is for information purposes only