Swap raises $4 million for consignment around children's goods

    Swap.com (formerly Netcycler) announces they’ve picked up a nice $4 million to help grow their online consignment service for children’s clothes, baby gear, toys, games, and maternity wear. Participating investors include Cleantech Invest as their institutional investor, as well as angel investors Ari Hypponen, Ahti Heinla and Jaan Tallinn among others.

    Another new investor to this funding round is Marc Onetto, former Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Customer Service at Amazon.com, and member of the board at Flextronics, the global electronics manufacturing services company, who with the investment joins Swap’s board of advisors.

    Getting some insight into Amazon’s operations and customer service know-how is valuable at this stage of Swap’s lifespan, as Swap sees plenty of products coming and going. The company recently expanded into a new 66,000 sq ft fulfillment center in Bolingbrook, IL to store all these used toy dump trucks and maternity clothes. Revenues are growing about 20% month-over-month since the service was launched in early 2013, bringing them up to a $2.5 million run rate. The service now offers a selection of over 150,000 items, and is adding more than 50,000 new items every month.

    To get behind the etymology of the company, Swap.com was bought out by Finland-based Netcycler back in September of 2012. Both companies have been around for a few years – Swap.com originally launched as SwapTree back in 2004 and burned through $11 million at time of acquisition. The acquirer, Netcycler, now calls itself Swap and most recently raised $1.5 million last January.

    “Swap.com has become the largest online consignment store for kids’ items. Our goal is to establish ourselves as the clear leader in the online consignment space. This new funding allows us to grow faster and more aggressively.” says Dr. Juha Koponen, Swap.com CEO and Co-Founder.