Online marketplace Etsy has announced plans to acquire London-based Depop for $1.62 billion.

Founded in 2011, Depop is a British peer-to-peer fashion marketplace. The company reported gross merchandise sales of $650 million and $70 million revenue in 2020.

Starting in the UK and expanding to the US and Australia, Depop now has approximately 30 million registered users across nearly 150 countries.

Etsy said that Depop has a highly differentiated position in the resale space, with 90 per cent of its active users under the age of 26 and young consumers adopting second-hand fashion faster than other audiences.

Depop is the 10th most visited shopping site among Gen Z consumers in the U.S.

The second-hand market is projected to grow at a 39 per cent CAGR from 2019-2024 in the United States, reaching $64 billion, and to grow to twice the size of fast fashion on a global basis.

"We are simply thrilled to be adding Depop—what we believe to be the resale home for Gen Z consumers—to the Etsy family,” said Josh Silverman, chief executive of Etsy. “Depop is a vibrant, two-sided marketplace with a passionate community, a highly-differentiated offering of unique items, and we believe significant potential to further scale.

Silverman added: “Depop's world-class management team and employees have done a fantastic job nurturing this community and driving organic, authentic growth in a way that aligns well with Etsy's DNA and mission of Keeping Commerce Human. We see significant opportunities for shared expertise and growth synergies across what will now be a tremendous 'house of brands' portfolio of individually distinct, and very special, ecommerce brands."

Depop’s chief executive Maria Raga said that the move would enable the company to benefit from Etsy’s expertise and the resources of a much larger company.

Once the transaction is complete, in the third quarter of the year, Depop will continue to be headquartered in the capital.

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