StockX Raises $275M; The 'Stock Market Of Things' Now Valued At $2.8B

StockX, the "stock market of things," raised $275 million in a new Series E funding round.

What To Know: StockX raised $275 million at a valuation of $2.8 billion in a funding round led by Tiger Global. The company was valued at $1 billion in June 2019.

This marks the largest VC funding round in the history of the state of Michigan. StockX has now raised $490 million since its 2016 inception.

StockX will use the new funds to accelerate global expansion. The company operates in over 200 countries. StockX recently opened authentication centers in Hong Kong, Toronto and Portland, Oregon recently to help with its expansion.

Why It’s Important: This "round is expected to be the last private fundraising before an anticipated initial public offering in mid-2021," according to the New York Post.

Electronics was one of the newest categories added to the StockX platform and has quickly become the number two most popular segment.

Over Cyber Weekend, new consoles from Sony Corporation SNE and Microsoft Corporation MSFT became incredibly popular on the exchange with one console traded every minute. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles trades brought new users to the platform and helped GMV grow over 100% year-over-year in the four day period.

The company saw lifetime GMV surpass $3 billion in the third quarter and financials hit break-even. Third-quarter revenue of more than $100 million was up 75% year-over-year.

More than 13 million lifetime trades have taken place on the StockX platform, including 50% of transactions coming in the last 12 months.

See Also: StockX's Josh Luber Says 'Maybe One Day You Can Invest In The Jordan Index Instead Of The Dow'

Different to Competitors: The rise in e-commerce during the pandemic has helped companies like Wayfair W and Etsy Inc ETSY see values rise over 200% in 2020.

StockX is often compared to eBay Inc EBAY, but differs by offering items for sale similar to stock prices. The company eliminates the ask and want prices by allowing people to sell goods based on market prices from data aggregation.

StockX offers a trading platform and also offers a proprietary process for authentication, which cuts down on fake goods being sold on the platform.

The company makes money from the sale of items and authentication of items.