All-equity round saw participation from Serena Williams’ and Jay Z’s venture funds.
Toronto-based re-commerce startup Rebelstork has secured a $24.45 million CAD ($18 million USD) Series A round following the online marketplace’s significant growth.
CEO Emily Hosie claims Rebelstork is growing its revenues at over 300 percent annually.
First reported by Fortune, the all-equity round was led by Maveron Ventures with participation from existing seed investor Golden Ventures and the venture capital firms of tennis star Serena Williams and rapper Jay-Z, Serena Ventures and Marcy Venture Partners, respectively. As a result of their investments, Maveron general partner Jason Stoffer has gained a seat on the board while Serena Ventures general partner Beth Ferreira is now a board observer.
Rebelstork said it plans to use the capital investment to launch new products, expand operations, and grow its team. Rebelstork declined to provide additional details to BetaKit but said it would be hiring personnel in tech and operations.
Rebelstork was founded by CEO Emily Hosie in 2019 while on maternity leave from her position as vice president of merchandising for TJX, the parent company of multiple off-price apparel and home fashion retailers like Marshalls, Winners, and Homesense.
In a blog post this week, the founder shared how she became frustrated at the limited options for buying high-quality discounted baby gear and how she put her off-price retailing expertise to work on the baby sector.
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After creating a marketplace platform for parents to buy and sell overstock, open-boxed, and used baby gear at reduced prices, Hosie raised a $2-million CAD seed round in 2020 to fuel the platform’s national expansion. She went on to raise another $5 million CAD, which was also referred to as a Series A round, in 2021 while pregnant with her second child.
Rebelstork told BetaKit it has raised $38 million USD ($51.5 million CAD) to date.
The company has struck partnerships to process the overstock and returns of more than 2,500 brands including Hudson’s Bay, Million Dollar Baby, BabyBjörn, 4moms, and Target, Hosie claimed in the blog post. She also claimed the company is growing its revenues at over 300 percent annually.
“We are seeing an exciting shift in the retail industry where global iconic brands and mass retailers are majorly stepping up to change the bad habits in their returns supply chain,” Hosie said in a statement. “At the same time, we’re seeing a new generation of shoppers embracing returns recommerce in a big way.”
The ecommerce industry has been grappling with the affordability of returns as the popularity of online shopping grew in recent years. In 2022, the National Retail Federation released a report that anticipated consumers to return more than $816 billion worth of retail merchandise marking an average return rate of 16.5 percent. Up to a quarter, or nearly 5 billion pounds, of returned items end up in landfills, CNBC reported in 2019.
Feature image courtesy Rebelstork.
