Peer-to-Peer Fashion Rental Player Pickle Raises $8 Million

Pickle, a marketplace that lets members rent clothing from one another and arranges pick up and delivery, has raised $8 million in a seed funding round co-led by Craft Ventures and FirstMark Capital.

The New York-based company said in a blog post that its next steps include improving search, product variety and other aspects of its user experience; expanding its capabilities in markets where it sees growing demand, such as Los Angeles and Miami; and opening a brick-and-mortar store.

Pickle is one of a handful of companies trying to make fashion rental work through a peer-to-peer model that doesn’t entail buying and managing inventory itself, as rental player Rent the Runway does. The company said in its post that its community has grown to the “tens of thousands” in the past year.

The new capital comes in the midst of a steep downturn in venture funding as high interest rates hit borrowing and investors reprioritise. FirstMark, which has previously invested in companies such as Pinterest, Airbnb and Discord, said in its own post that it looks for organic growth and user retention driven by networks effects and power users.

”We see the same virtuous cycle in Pickle,” it said.

Learn more:

How to Make Rental Work

After years of trial and error, rental platforms have found new ways to improve margins and acquire customers, such as focussing on niche categories. Profitability remains elusive, however.