South Korea’s Naver buys online fashion marketplace Poshmark for $1.2 billion

South Korean internet giant Naver Corp has agreed to acquire the popular online fashion marketplace Poshmark in a deal valued at $1.2 billion. Poshmark is a popular secondhand retailer and the largest fashion consumer-to-consumer platform in North America.

Popular among Millennial and Gen Z active users, Poshmark boasts 80 million registered users, Naver executives said in a conference call on Tuesday. But investors remain skeptical considering the timing of its biggest acquisition amid the global economic slowdown.

As part of the acquisition agreement, Naver, which is also South Korea’s top search engine, will pay $17.90 cash for each Poshmark share and acquire all of its outstanding stock as it expands its footprint into the U.S. e-commerce market.

After the deal is closed, Naver will combine Poshmark’s shopping platform with its technology, which may likely start with live-streaming, a key driver of e-commerce in South Korea, followed by technologies such as image recognition and artificial intelligence, the two companies said in a statement.

We covered Poshmark about five years ago when the once online fashion startup Poshmark raised $87.5 million from Temasek Holdings, a state-owned holding company that can be characterized as a national wealth fund owned by the Government of Singapore.

Founded in 2011, Poshmark is the largest social marketplace for fashion where anyone can buy, sell and share their style with others. Poshmark’s mission is to make shopping simple and fun by connecting people around a shared love of fashion while empowering entrepreneurs to become the next generation of retailers.

Recognized as the go-to shopping destination for millennials, Poshmark’s community of over two million Seller Stylists helps shoppers discover the perfect look from over 25 million items and 5,000 brands.