Poshmark, the fashion resale social network, is on track for $100 million in revenue this year, TechCrunch has learned.We hear the company reached$50 million in revenue last year, which means they are on pace to double in 2017.
The company also recently becamecash flow positive, with profitability on an Ebitdabasis. This is a commonly used, but adjusted measurementof profitability that excludes certain itemslike taxes and one-time expenditures.
Wewere told that competitor ThredUp was also on track for over $100 million in revenue last year, but these companies are anomalies in an industry that has seen a lot of disappointment. Threadflip shut down in 2016and many others are struggling.
Poshmark has abusiness model thats different from the rest of the clothing resale startups.Its not only a social network, but the company alsodoes not buy any inventory, meaning its costs arelower.
Instead, Poshmark makes money by taking a 20% cut from the sales. They are forecasting $500 million in gross merchandise volume, meaning the total dollar value of transactions on the platform for the year.
It is a very competitive landscape and there are no guarantees that Poshmarks traction will continue. Their model alsorequires more effort than some of the startups which let you ship your items in a box and be done with them.
Yet with an army of 2.5 million sellers, Poshmark has done especially well with womenwho like to sell clothing and accessories to their friends. And last year the company introduced mens and childrens items and CEO Manish Chandra tells TechCrunchthese lines are scaling very rapidly.
They introduced a significant app update on Wednesday, which allows sellers to act as virtual stylists. Theyre calling it the Posh Dressing Room, wheresellers can recommend items that suit the style of buyers. This will create a new form of discovery, said Chandra.
The company has raisedover $65 million in the past six yearsfrom notable investors including GGV Capital, Menlo Ventures and SV Angel.
Last year they hired a CFO and shared that they hoped to IPO someday.Were starting to think about the future said Chandra, but could not share a specific timeline.
If Poshmark is able to keep up its momentum and reach this milestone, it would be unusual.Fewe-commerce companies have made it to the public markets in recent years.
Etsy debuted in 2015, but has struggled to maintain investor appetite. But then there are giants like Amazon which has had a phenomenal run in the public markets.
For Poshmark, we are not predicting an IPO for this year, but possibly someday.
Additional reporting by Matthew Lynley.
