Thrifty shopping habits are growing in popularity these days. As consumers search for new ways to lessen the fashion industry’s toll on the environment and on their wallets, businesses in the secondhand goods space have recorded significant growth.
Secondhand apparel marketplace Poshmark is set to be acquired by Korean tech platform Naver in a deal worth $1.2 billion. Online thrift store thredUP projects the U.S. secondhand retail sector will reach a market value of $82 billion by 2026. Santa Barbara-based Beni is making moves of its own within this fast-growing space, and it announced a $4 million round of seed funding on Tuesday.
Beni developed a browser extension that works to let consumers easily browse listings for resale items while they’re shopping online. Beni’s platform supports more than 1,000 retail branded sites, according to Sarah Pinner, Beni’s CEO and co-founder.
The items Beni recommends are similar to those the consumer is actively considering, and suggestions are compiled from its 30 partner resale sites like The RealReal, Rent the Runway and eBay.
More than 4,000 consumers currently use Beni’s platform, a number that’s been steadily growing at a rate of about 40 percent month-over-month, Pinner said. All of its growth can be attributed to word of mouth, Pinner told Built In via email.
With its solution, Beni’s goal is to make re-commerce easier by enabling users to find and buy secondhand apparel and accessories at the click of a button. The company’s seed funding round was led by Buoyant Ventures and totals the company’s funding at more than $5 million.
“We started Beni to make resale more accessible, Pinner said in a statement. “Beni saves shoppers hours of scrolling and helps resale sites get the right inventory to the right shoppers. With this financial backing, we will grow our team and scale Beni to accelerate the adoption of resale.”
The company plans to add software engineering talent as it looks to improve its tech infrastructure. Beni wants to hire growth and content marketers as well to help fuel customer acquisition, according to Pinner.
In addition to building out its team with the new capital, Beni plans to enhance its tech solution. Having recently launched a new feature, the company will invest in further improving its user experience.
“We just launched a new feature that allows shoppers to set a search alert,” Pinner told Built In via email. “This is especially exciting during the holiday season as we’ve been reminding our shoppers that if they are willing to wait, they can set an alert for their dream item and Beni will let them know as soon as it hits the resale market.”
