Trance launched its app on Thursday, bringing life to the platform backed by Serena Williams’ venture fund, Serena Ventures.
Founded by Harvard Business School graduates Katie Pfleger, who previously worked at Etsy and Ella Rubin, who helped launch Walmart’s Online Grocery business, the platform focuses on the “presale” market. The duo created the app to list products before purchase to discover if others are interested in renting or owning it next.
Based on their own experiences, the founders said they often justified their own expensive purchases that could be rented out or resold later without having an understanding of who is interested in the piece or what they’d be willing to pay.
“Traditional rental and resale marketplaces largely start with items people already own, then find demand,” said Pfleger and Rubin. “Trace reverses that sequence. You can find the person who wants it next before deciding to buy it first.”
Users copy and paste a product link into the app to create a listing in less than 10 seconds using artificial intelligence to pull product details from the retailer’s link. Another user will then “call it,” offering to rent or buy it later at a specific price and date. The second user “calling it” is charged when the first user accepts. The price on Trace reflects the retail price minus what is received from the rental or sale created — with users still buying products new from retailers.
“Trace is transforming the way people shop,” Serena Williams, managing partner of Serena Ventures, exclusively told WWD in a statement. “At Serena Ventures, we invested in Trace because of the market opportunity, unique approach and the founders Katie and Ella, who have the experience and grit to make this vision a reality.”
After pitching Trace during Alix Earle’s visit to Harvard Business School and featuring it in a viral TikTok, Serena Ventures came across the platform during the platform’s fundraising process.
The consumer Trace is looking to capture is lovers of fashion and those wanting to have “greater access to the things she loves without carrying the full cost of every purchase.” During the app’s beta testing, less than 300 users listed more than 500 pieces and 32 percent of users listed a piece upon sign-up. Trace also shared that 70 percent of “calls” placed during beta testing were to rent a piece, while 30 percent were to buy.
Trace’s business model sees the buy “callers” paying a 10 percent service fee and a $3 buyer protection fee, with listers paying no commission on the resale products. For rental “calls,” there’s a 10 percent service fee alongside a $5 to $12 protection fee based on the item’s value and listers pay a 15 percent commission.
“Traditional resale is built around what people already own and are ready to part with. But in fashion, demand often peaks much earlier, when a piece is new, in season or suddenly everywhere because a creator wore it. By the time it reaches resale, that moment may have passed and some of the most desirable pieces never make it onto resale platforms at all,” said Pfleger and Rubin.
As part of the app’s launch, Trace is hosting a pop-up from Friday until Sunday at the Shopify SoHo location featuring shoppable edits from eight stylists including Becky Penhos, Carly Jordan, Jordanna Sharp and Alexa Eshaghian Speight. The pop-up also features truck shows from women-founded brands such as Mercer Street, Sirrah Archive, Bolola NYC, A Random Company, Mackenzie Belle Jewelry and Maile and programming featuring Bala, Fuze House, Move with Anj, Esspo, GoGreek, Backgammon Social Club and Meet Cute Club.
Trace raised $3 million in a seed round led by Serena Ventures, with participation from Shakti VC.