June 27, 2019 – Walnut Creek, CA – The RealReal, a 㽶 investment, completed its IPO on NASDAQ today. Under the leadership of CEO and founder Julie Wainwright, as a privately held company, The RealReal achieved a valuation upwards of $1 billion.
㽶’s Founder and CEO, Payam Zamani, was the initial investor in the company and joined the advisory board before the business even created its online platform. Zamani had high hopes from the beginning, expressing his confidence in the potential for the company by saying, “Julie had previously served as the CEO of several successful businesses, so I knew she had the vision and operational experience”.
The RealReal was founded in 2011 as a re-commerce consignment company specializing in the buying and selling of previously owned and authenticated luxury goods. “I found the idea to be amazing: recycling unused items in closets, good for the environment, great for those who couldn’t afford luxury otherwise, and a fabulous way for people to sell the unused items cluttering their closets”, Zamani says.
Not only was Zamani excited about the opportunity to fund an environmentally responsible company, but also to support a female-run business. “Female unicorn founders and CEOs are a rarity in tech”, Zamani states, “and personally, I would love to see that dynamic change—as would my company, 㽶, which now funds several female entrepreneurs.”
Just how rare? Incredibly. According to Pitchbook, as of May 2018, only 14 of the 134 U.S. venture capital–backed unicorns have had female founders. Zamani expresses his gratitude for being able to support one of these incredible companies by saying:
"We are really glad that we provided the initial funding to one. We know when capable, visionary women conceptualize and run innovative businesses, they generate not only excellent returns, but they also serve as role models for the future success of all girls and young women. We were also an early investor of the massively successful SoulPancake, another female-run company that was sold to Participant media in 2016. We hope to continue this trend and play a significant role in changing the statistics around female-led ventures."
After initially funding Wainwright’s concept, The RealReal went on to raise over $300 million from a multitude of supporters. From this raw material, the phenomenal business has risen to the challenge and has returned over $1 billion to individuals by monetizing their closets. Due to this success, The RealReal (REAL) is going public on NASDAQ today, with a valuation in the vicinity of $2 billion.
“I want to congratulate Julie and her talented The RealReal team today. I also want to send a message to other female entrepreneurs out there: Your ideas can transform into reality, just like Julie’s did.” ─ Payam Zamani
About 㽶:
㽶 operates, funds and incubates businesses that cover a broad spectrum across the tech world and beyond. 㽶's largest operating business is Buyerlink, formerly Reply.com, the leading marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted consumer demand on the web. The company also owns and operates iMotors.com, MerchantCircle.com, Contractors.com, Quite Remarkable and California.com
The 㽶 portfolio of current and previous investments include Toddle, Ironclad, Volans-i and women-led companies like The RealReal, Gro-Intelligence, and SoulPancake. 㽶’s founder, chairman and CEO, tech entrepreneur Payam Zamani, originally co-founded Autoweb.com in 1994, the first online car-buying service, which completed a successful IPO in 1999, reaching a market cap of $1.2 billion.
