Cudoni Hires Former The RealReal Retail Lead as Chief Commercial Officer

The luxury resale site has hired Michael Groffenberger as its first chief commercial officer. Groffenberger previously served as head of retail at The Real Real.

Cudoni was founded in 2017 and counts among a wave of start-ups seeking to grab a slice of the fast-growing market for secondhand fashion. The sector is expected to increase its value from $27 billion to $57 billion by 2025 as a base case, according to The Future of Fashion Resale report published by the BoF Insights Lab.

“Our long-term aim is to continue growing with a view to ultimately getting towards an IPO. Anything less will be a failure for us,” said chief executive James Harford-Tyrer.

Cudoni is a full service resale platform, which means it handles all the operations involved in the process, from photographing and listing items to authenticating them and sending them to buyers. Groffenberger has been hired to help drive the company’s growth plans. To date, Cudoni has raised £7 million ($9.6 million) in venture capital from investors including former Saks Fifth Avenue group president Andrew Jennings and Charles Tyrwhitt founder Nicholas Wheeler.

Near-term, Cudoni is looking to expand internationally and develop its watches and fine jewellery service, an area where the company sees an opportunity to differentiate itself in a crowded market.

“Watches and jewellery are even more challenging than fashion to handle on a peer-to-peer basis because of the level of expertise necessary to authenticate and accurately describe the item,” said Groffenberger, who ran The Real Real’s watches and jewellery division for a time.