Kream gets $168M investment fuel in Series C

Kream, a South Korean luxury goods resale platform, has raised $168 million in a Series C round.

Why it matters: The luxury resale market is poised to grow, as budget-conscious consumers still want a taste of luxury.

• According to a Bain & Co.-Altagamma luxury study, the market reached around €1.15 trillion ($1.25 trillion) in 2021 and grew by around 19% to 21% in 2022.

Driving the news: The consumer-to-consumer resale company’s valuation stands at roughly $742 million, nearly double the valuation from its funding round in the fall, according to TechCrunch.

• Existing investor Altos Ventures led the round, joined by e-commerce giant Naver, SoftBank Ventures Asia and Mirae Asset Capital.

Context: Naver spun off Kream from Snow, a camera app-focused part of the company, in January 2021.

Of note: Kream has made some investments in Asian peers as well, including Indonesian sneaker marketplace Kick Avenue, Tokyo-based resale sneaker platform Soda, and Singapore-based Reebelo.

What’s next: The company plans to use the new capital to make more investments, “in line with its long-term goal of strategically connecting Asia-based reselling platforms so that its users can leverage Kream and its C2C resale affiliates to buy and sell luxury items,” Kream’s chief business officer Mingook Kim told TechCrunch.

Kream couldn’t immediately be reached for further comment.