Contents
Social shopping marketplace
Founded at H-Farm, Italy
2011
Moved headquarters to London
2012
iOS app launch; 50k users, 350k items
April 2013
1M items, $1M seed from Red Circle and Luca Marzotto
October 2013
Depop is a social shopping marketplace. Simon Beckerman founded it in 2011 at H-Farm, an incubator in Roncade, Italy.123 Beckerman had previously co-founded PIG (People in Groove), an indie fashion magazine in Milan that featured underground creatives in music, design, and fashion.14 He conceived Depop as a way for PIG readers to buy items from the creatives featured in the magazine.4 The early product was originally called "Garage" and used a feed-like interface instead of a conventional marketplace layout.4
H-Farm provided support during development.1 After graduating from the incubator, Depop raised €1 million from Balderton Capital and Holtzbrinck Ventures and moved its headquarters to London in 2012, choosing the city over Berlin.1 Paolo Barberis and Nana Bianca made the first seed investments in 2012.3
Depop soft-launched in Italy before the official iOS release. In April 2013, the iOS app launched with 50,000 registered users and 350,000 items listed after roughly eight months of soft launch.1 The app let sellers share listings to Twitter and Facebook and allowed users to follow other users, with a grid view of photo thumbnails.1 Depop handled payments via credit card and PayPal and took a small commission, unlike many other mobile flea-market apps at the time.1 At launch, Depop named UK independent stores Beach London, Mint Vintage and Never Fully Dressed as partners, and positioned itself between eBay and Etsy, targeting vintage and craft sellers.1 The team grew from three to fourteen employees in the four months before the April launch.1
By October 2013, Depop had listed one million items and had more than 100,000 users.2 That month it closed a $1 million seed round led by Red Circle Investments, run by the Rosso family (owners of Italian fashion brand Only The Brave), with participation from Luca Marzotto, a Hugo Boss Group board member.2 Neither investor had previously backed a UK-based technology startup.2 Depop said the funds would go to product development, team growth, and an Android app.2 Users had begun uploading their own items rather than only buying from PIG-featured creatives, and the platform evolved into a standalone marketplace.4
Depop is a social shopping marketplace. Simon Beckerman founded it in 2011 at H-Farm, an incubator in Roncade, Italy.123 Beckerman had previously co-founded PIG (People in Groove), an indie fashion magazine in Milan that featured underground creatives in music, design, and fashion.14 He conceived Depop as a way for PIG readers to buy items from the creatives featured in the magazine.4 The early product was originally called "Garage" and used a feed-like interface instead of a conventional marketplace layout.4
Founded at H-Farm, Italy
2011
Moved headquarters to London
2012
iOS app launch; 50k users, 350k items
April 2013
1M items, $1M seed from Red Circle and Luca Marzotto
October 2013
H-Farm provided support during development.1 After graduating from the incubator, Depop raised €1 million from Balderton Capital and Holtzbrinck Ventures and moved its headquarters to London in 2012, choosing the city over Berlin.1 Paolo Barberis and Nana Bianca made the first seed investments in 2012.3
Depop soft-launched in Italy before the official iOS release. In April 2013, the iOS app launched with 50,000 registered users and 350,000 items listed after roughly eight months of soft launch.1 The app let sellers share listings to Twitter and Facebook and allowed users to follow other users, with a grid view of photo thumbnails.1 Depop handled payments via credit card and PayPal and took a small commission, unlike many other mobile flea-market apps at the time.1 At launch, Depop named UK independent stores Beach London, Mint Vintage and Never Fully Dressed as partners, and positioned itself between eBay and Etsy, targeting vintage and craft sellers.1 The team grew from three to fourteen employees in the four months before the April launch.1
By October 2013, Depop had listed one million items and had more than 100,000 users.2 That month it closed a $1 million seed round led by Red Circle Investments, run by the Rosso family (owners of Italian fashion brand Only The Brave), with participation from Luca Marzotto, a Hugo Boss Group board member.2 Neither investor had previously backed a UK-based technology startup.2 Depop said the funds would go to product development, team growth, and an Android app.2 Users had begun uploading their own items rather than only buying from PIG-featured creatives, and the platform evolved into a standalone marketplace.4
