eBay announced its venture capital investment arm invested in The Volte, a “luxury dress sharing platform.” The Volte does not hold inventory itself – rather, it lets people list their designer items for free on its platform (“lenders”) and charges the lenders a 15% fee when someone rents one of their items.
In announcing the investment, eBay said The Volte is one of the largest designer rental marketplaces globally, revealing that “Month on month bookings have already doubled in 2023 with more than 70,000 dresses listed on the platform and 300,000 monthly active users.”
On average a dress is rented out nine times on The Volte, eBay said, “however, some popular dresses see hundreds of requests with many lenders earning more than $100,000 a year renting out their designer wardrobe.”
eBay and The Volte are also planning to enter into a commercial partnership – the companies did not disclose details, but said it would “build on eBay’s longstanding commitment to recommerce, with an aim to bring significant benefits to sellers, buyers and brands.”
The full announcement is available on the eBayInc.com corporate blog.
eBay Ventures has also invested in SidelineSwap, Cudoni, and Notable Live. According to the eBay Ventures website, it invests in “disruptive early-stage companies who are revolutionizing the commerce landscape.”
