Etsy to buy Depop for $1.6bn

Etsy has agreed to buy Depop, a privately-held, community-led fashion marketplace, for $1.63bn.

Once the transaction completes, Depop will continue to be headquartered in London, England and operate as a standalone marketplace run by its existing leadership team.

Founded in 2011, Depop's 2020 gross merchandise sales and revenue were about $650m and $70m, respectively. Around 90% of the company’s active users are under the age of 26, with young consumers adopting second-hand fashion faster than any other audience.

Etsy said the second-hand market is projected to grow at a 39% compound annual growth rate from 2019 to 2024 in the US, reaching $64bn, and to grow to twice the size of fast fashion on a global basis.

It noted that Depop now has a community of approximately 30m registered users across nearly 150 countries.

Etsy chief executive Josh Silverman said: "We are simply thrilled to be adding Depop - what we believe to be the resale home for Gen Z consumers - to the Etsy family. Depop is a vibrant, two-sided marketplace with a passionate community, a highly-differentiated offering of unique items, and we believe significant potential to further scale.

"Depop's world-class management team and employees have done a fantastic job nurturing this community and driving organic, authentic growth in a way that aligns well with Etsy's DNA and mission of Keeping Commerce Human. We see significant opportunities for shared expertise and growth synergies across what will now be a tremendous 'house of brands' portfolio of individually distinct, and very special, ecommerce brands."

The deal is expected to complete in the third quarter.