AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Loveseat, a consumer-first and eco-friendly online marketplace for home goods, announced that it has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from notable angel investors Gokul Rajaram, Gabriel Weinberg, and Kal Vepuri.
In today’s market, online returns have a complicated, emissions-heavy lifecycle that costs the retail industry $32 billion annually. To solve this inefficiency, Loveseat’s online auction marketplace offers a platform for thrifty consumers to buy local returned and overstock home goods at a significantly discounted price. As much as 30% of home goods e-commerce orders are returned – Loveseat’s business model closes this gap, increasing margins by 40%, and its focus on buying and selling returned goods locally minimizes the overhead costs and energy endured by large retailers.
Loveseat is primarily focused on prioritizing the consumer experience – with thousands of new listings each week, the competitive auction-style model allows users to bid on high-quality items, typically saving 70% of the original retail price. Customers are receiving better value and contributing to creating a healthier planet by reducing waste.
"Sustainability is one of our core values as we work to eliminate waste from the supply chain,” said CEO Chris Stanchak. “We are hyper-focused on bringing value to goods that have otherwise been seen as waste in the consumption lifecycle. For this reason, 100% of our inventory is sourced from customer returned goods or retail overstock. This massive market opportunity is resonating with our customer base in a big way."
Loveseat was born from founders Chris and Jenny Stanchak’s combined experience in the tech and e-commerce space. Chris has spent his entire career in the e-commerce industry and previously founded TicketLeap, an online ticket sales and event marketing company. One of the first software engineers at Venmo, Jenny has long paved the way for women in the tech industry and now serves as Loveseat’s Chief Technology Officer.
“We are excited to partner with Chris, Jenny, and the Loveseat team as they rapidly expand to new markets,” said Talia Goldberg, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "Loveseat is a 10x better and cheaper shopping experience. It provides consumers with access to high quality inventory at rock bottom prices in a fun format that meaningfully reduces carbon emissions."
This new capital will accelerate Loveseat’s executive hiring capabilities, aid in its expansion to every major market nationally, and support the company’s transition to a direct-sourcing model. Loveseat currently operates in Southern California and Austin, Texas and plans to open numerous locations within Texas, Florida, and the Bay Area.
About Loveseat
Loveseat Online Auctions was founded in 2020 and operates a managed marketplace for returned and other distressed inventory in the home goods space from major retailers and vendors. Everything is sold at auction with most items starting at just $10. Think: TJMaxx meets eBay. Fulfillment is done locally via Loveseat’s network of warehouses in major metro areas. The customer proposition is simple: score amazing deals on great stuff for your home in a fun and (slightly addictive) gamified shopping experience. If you’re interested in joining our growing team, you can find available positions here.
About Bessemer Venture Partners
BVP helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 135 IPOs and 200 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio includes Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr and Toast and has $9 billion of capital under management. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).
