eBay Ventures Invests in Australian-Based The Volte Fashion Luxury Rental Marketplace

eBay Ventures led the Series A capital raise for The Volte, an Australian-based rental marketplace platform that facilitates the rental of designer luxury dresses.

Check Out These Resources

• Do you need a business bank account for your online business? Take a look at our review of the five best bank accounts for sellers, some of which are free with no minimum balance or deposits. ^[sponsored]
• Boost your social media engagement with Publer. Learn how you can save time writing engaging content faster with AI. ^[sponsored]
• Could your online business use capital for growth? Here is a primer on revenue-based loans, and how they work.

As part of the investment, the two companies intend to establish a commercial partnership that will enhance eBay’s longstanding dedication to recommerce, thereby providing substantial advantages to sellers, buyers, and brands.

Bernadette Olivier, CEO and co-founder of The Volte said this investment strengthens the worldwide trend towards sustainable fashion, where consumers are moving away from disposable clothing.

“Key to the fashion industry becoming sustainable is for better-made, high-quality items to stay in circulation for longer. Our partnership with eBay will strengthen The Volte’s ambition to grow the circular fashion economy in Australia and we are already working with eBay Australia on several initiatives that will reduce fashion disposability,” added Olivier.

eBay Australia’s Head of Fashion, Brooke Eichhorn, added, “eBay has long been a champion of fashion recommerce, with 16 million pre-loved fashion items listed for sale on eBay.com.au in previous years.

“This partnership with The Volte will enable us to continue challenging and changing what it means to buy, sell and love fashion.

“Buy now, earn now, sell later are opportunities that last a lifetime. By pioneering greater accessibility, transparency and sustainability – we are way ahead of the curve in making fashion go further.”

The Volte has gained immense popularity by enabling individuals to monetize and generate income from their designer luxury dresses without holding any inventory of their own.

Having more than 70,000 dresses listed on its platform and over 300,000 monthly active users, The Volte has become one of the largest designer rental marketplaces across the globe. The platform says it has already experienced a doubling of its month-on-month bookings in 2023.

Typically, a dress is rented out on The Volte nine times on average. Highly sought-after dresses can receive hundreds of rental requests, enabling many lenders to earn over $100,000 annually by renting out their designer wardrobe.

“We are all about encouraging people – and making it possible – to purchase better quality clothes, moving away from the fundamentally flawed fast-fashion model,” commented Olivier.

“This has the potential to disrupt the $420 billion fast fashion industry. Consumers can look at fashion as an investment, rather than as disposable.”

Venture capital firm BetterLabs also participated in The Volte’s oversubscribed Series A investment round, which raised approximately $4 million AUD.

Last October, The Volte announced a groundbreaking direct integration with retailers and designers. This enables users to instantly list newly purchased items for rent and allows designers to earn royalties every time the item is rented or on-sold.

The 2023 Australian Fashion Council Clothing Data Report reveals that Australia is the second-largest consumer of fast fashion, following the United States. Furthermore, on average, each Australian purchases 56 clothing items annually, with more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing ending up in Australia’s landfills.

About The Volte

The Volte is a global platform for renting designer fashion, connecting borrowers and lenders to more than 70,000 designer dresses in sizes ranging from 6 to 20+.

The Perth-based online platform provides a means for individuals to generate income from their wardrobes, and for borrowers to rent a designer dress at a significantly reduced price.

Since its establishment in 2017 by four women, The Volte has been leading the way in digital fashion recommence to reduce waste while also enabling marketplace sellers to generate recurring revenue from their wardrobe.

The platform has also created a brand integration strategy that enables brands and their consumers to appreciate the worth of designer fashion, resulting in additional revenue generation.

eBay Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of eBay focusing on investments in disruptive early-stage companies who are revolutionizing the commerce landscape.