American marketplace Etsy has completed its £1.2 billion acquisition of Depop.
London-headquartered Depop is a community-powered marketplace to buy and sell unique fashion items.
Etsy gives creative people a platform to sell handmade items around the world via websites and an app. Many of the items are personalised craft products, although it also allows the sale of second-hand clothes.
Etsy says the deal extends its opportunities further into the high-frequency apparel sector and specifically in the fast-growing resale space serving Gen Z.
More than 90% of Depop’s 30 million users are under the age of 26, whereas the average age of Etsy users is 39. Depop is the 10th most visited shopping site for Gen Z in the US.
The deal is primarily for cash.
“We believe Depop to be the resale home for Gen Z consumers with a unique offering and highly-engaged user base,” said Etsy CEO Josh Silverman.
“With the closing of this incredibly exciting transaction, Etsy’s ‘house of brands’ portfolio now includes four individually distinct, and very special, ecommerce brands – Etsy, Depop, Reverb and Elo7 – with parallel growth strategies, all sharing similar missions, visions, and values.
“We are excited to welcome the entire Depop community into the Etsy family and look forward to applying Etsy’s value creation roadmap to help them further drive growth.”
Depop, which has users in around 150 countries, will continue to operate as a standalone marketplace run by its existing leadership team.
The firm employs around 400 people at bases in London, Manchester, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney.