StockX raises $275 million in Series E funding for the “Stock Market of Things” marketplace

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the popular buzzwords coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999 during his work at Procter&Gamble. Ashton is known as the father of IoT, Proctor & Gamble alumni, and the founding Executive Director of MIT’s Auto-ID Center. Since then, there are at least a dozen variations of the term including the Internet of Health (IoH), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and others.

But what about “Stock of Market of Things?” That’s a new term coined by Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert and his partners for their 5-year old online eCommerce marketplace startup called StockX. Just like the stock market, StockX offers an online portal similar to the stock market for the buying and selling of high-end, limited edition products.

Today, StockX announced it has raised $275 million in Series E funding to accelerate global expansion, product innovation, and category diversification for its eCommerce marketplace. The round, which values the fast-growing platform at $2.8 billion post-money, was led by Tiger Global Management, LLC with new participation from Altimeter Capital, Sands Capital, and Whale Rock Capital Management.

The fundraise marks the largest VC funding round in Michigan history and brings the total funds raised to $490 million. The new investors bring to the table deep experience in the technology, consumer, and e-commerce sectors, having invested in leading platforms including Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, Shopify, Spotify, and Uber. They join the likes of Battery Ventures, DST Global, Detroit Venture Partners, Galaxy Interactive, GGV Capital, GV, General Atlantic, and Marcy Venture Partners (co-founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter) as investors in the e-commerce platform.

In the third quarter, StockX not only achieved break-even but also surpassed $3 billion in lifetime gross merchandise value. During 2020, StockX’s year-over-year revenue growth has accelerated, reaching over 75% in Q3 on over $100 million in quarterly GAAP revenue.

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Chris Kaufman, Greg Schwartz, and Josh Luber, StockX operates a live bid/ask marketplace for buying and selling limited edition and high demand sneakers. Its marketplace enables users to anonymously buy and sell limited edition consumer products with stock market-like visibility. StockX’s platform allows users to create their own personalized sneaker portfolio by uploading their current collection and compare and contrast their sneaker collection to other users on the platform.

“The quality of investors joining us is a clear signal that the market recognizes that there is an incredible opportunity in e-commerce for current culture products and StockX is best positioned to meet consumer demand for those products,” said StockX CEO Scott Cutler. “I’m thrilled to welcome our new partners to the team — their collective expertise will be invaluable as we continue to build on the momentum from the last year, and drive the growth to cement StockX’s position as the global marketplace leader.”

StockX has logged record-breaking growth in 2020. As of the end of Q3, the company surpassed 13 million lifetime trades (StockX’s metric of transactions between buyers and sellers), 50% of which were in the prior 12 months. Additionally, during Q3, StockX saw an average of 25 million global visitors per month.

“The power of the online marketplace is growing rapidly — along with our reliance on digital experiences,” said Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global. “The StockX team has demonstrated the ability to build a trusted and customer-centric experience for people buying and selling online, and we are excited to partner with them as they continue to innovate a tech-forward model to deliver much-needed authenticity and price transparency in this market.”