Letgo

Letgo (stylized letgo) is a company that provides a website and app that allows users to buy from, sell to and chat with others locally. The products launched in 2015.[3]

Letgo
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Online classifieds
Available inEnglish, Czech, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Croatian, Turkish
FoundedJanuary 2015 (2015-01)
Headquarters
New York City and Barcelona[1][2]
Founder(s)Alec Oxenford
Jordi Castello
Enrique Linares
IndustryMarketplace, App
URLwww.letgo.com
Current statusActive
Native client(s) oniOS and Android

History

Launched in January 2015 by Alec Oxenford, former CEO of OLX, the app initially targeted the U.S. market, competing against eBay and Craigslist, the online marketplace leaders since the 1990s.[4][5][6][7]

In May 2016, the company merged with Wallapop, another mobile classifieds startup.[8] Letgo remained the majority owner of the company and the brand remained Letgo.[9] At the time, there were about 10 million monthly active users between the two apps, according to SurveyMonkey data published by TechCrunch.[10]

From its launch, the company did not charge for its services, earning no revenue, as part of its strategy to grow quickly.[11] As of June 2018, the listing service remained free, but the app added a paid beta feature allowing users to place their sales item above organic search results.[12]

Three quarters of the first round investment of $100 million was slated for marketing.[13] The ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky Miami created a television ad campaign for the app, directed by filmmaker Craig Gillespie. Each advertisement is premised on an extreme situation, such as a person dangling over a cliff who might plunge down because he's holding on to a bowling ball, where the sensible thing to do is to let go of the item.[14] CP+B Miami also created a series of four ads allowing customers to incorporate images and descriptions of their items for sale directly into a satirical video ad, such as one featuring action film star Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary.[15]

The app launched in Canada in October 2016 and in Norway of November 2016.[16][17]

In September 2019, Naspers spun off its investments in Letgo into a separate company, Prosus.[18]

In March 2020, competitor OfferUp announced they would be acquiring Letgo.[19]

Growth

By September 2015, the company said its app had two million downloads and half a million product listings.[4] Comscore said it was the second fastest growing app in the U.S., in 2017.[20] As of January 2018, the app had about 75 million downloads, compared to 30 million in August 2016.[21] It had 200 million listings for secondhand goods and about three billion messages were exchanged between users.[22] The company said it had monthly repeat visitors in the "tens of millions".[22] In August, 2018, the company reported the app had more than 100 million downloads and 400 million. Listings were up about 65% during the first eight months of 2018.[23]

Funding

The company raised US$100 million in 2015,[4] one of the five largest first rounds of venture capital financing since 2008.[13] Following a merger in May 2016 with Wallapop, a competitor with a reported valuation of about $570 million, the company raised an additional $100 million.[8] As of September 2017 the company valuation was more than $1 billion. By that time, it had raised $375 million in total capital.[24] In August 2018, it raised $500 million from Naspers.[25][26]

Corporate affairs

Leadership

Letgo is managed by CEO and Co-Founder Enrique Linares Plaza. Other key executives are:[27][28]

  • Alec Oxenford, Co-Founder
  • Jordi Castello, Co-Founder
  • Josh Crossick, Chief Product Officer
  • Rahim Lakhani, Chief Financial Officer
  • Pedro Mestriner, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Market Development

Product
Letgo feed

The app and website facilitates buying and selling used goods. The marketplace, optimized primarily for smartphones, features large photos of products for sale.[29] No log-in is required.[14] Goods are displayed based on the geolocation closest to the buyer. The app is integrated with instant chat functionality.[29]

In 2018, the company added video listings and image recognition that includes pricing suggestions.[20] A housing section was also added.[30]

gollark: It will exist as much as minoteaur exists.
gollark: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHIFHhggsabfasf
gollark: Unlike macron, mindbreak, and probably most *claimed* lyricesolangs?
gollark: Well, asm2bf actually exists, see.
gollark: Hello!

See also
  • Tech companies in the New York metropolitan area

References
  1. Lomas, Natasha (10 May 2016). "Wallapop and LetGo, two Craigslist rivals, merge to take on the U.S. market, raise $100M more". TechCrunch. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  2. Hopland, Sindre (12 May 2016). "Barcelona Marketplace Merger: Wallapop + Letgo = Letgo". Barcinno. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  3. "South Africa's Naspers Backs Smartphone Start-Up Letgo". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  4. "A new app with 2 million users just raised $100 million to take on eBay". Fortune. 2015-09-03. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  5. "letgo Merges with Wallapop; Raises $100M". FinSMEs. 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  6. Gleeson, Bridget (2015-05-27). "Meet the Argentine Tech Entrepreneur Who Started His Own Emerging-Art Incubator". Artsy. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  7. Loizos, Connie. "Naspers Plants a Flag in U.S., with New Venture Group". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  8. Lunden, Ingrid; Lomas, Natasha (2016-05-10). "Wallapop and LetGo, two Craigslist rivals, merge to take on the U.S. market, raise $100M more". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  9. Geron, Tomio. "Letgo buys fellow mobile classifieds startup Wallapop". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  10. Shieber, Jonathan (17 January 2017). "Letgo raises $175 million for its used goods marketplace". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  11. Shieber, Jonathan (17 January 2017). "Letgo raises $175 million for its used goods market". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  12. Pahwa, Aashish. "LetGo Business Model: How does LetGo Make Money?". Feedough.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  13. Merced, Michael J. De La (2015-09-03). "South Africa's Naspers Backs Smartphone Start-Up Letgo". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  14. "How Classifieds Startup Letgo Aims To Help Americans Get Rid Of Their Useless Stuff". Co.Create. Fast Company. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  15. Dua, Tanya (2016-04-21). "Letgo's new tool lets users make blockbuster ads to sell their junk - Digiday". Digiday. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  16. "Letgo smartphone app looks to disrupt online classifieds market in Canada". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-01-02.
  17. Moe, Sigrid. "Argentinsk seriegründer går til kamp mot finn.no". E24. Retrieved 2017-01-02.
  18. Drozdiak, Natalia (9 September 2019). "Naspers Prepares to List Global Empire From Ads to Tencent". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  19. "OfferUp raises $120M, will acquire rival Letgo; OLX Group to own 40% of combined entity". GeekWire. 2020-03-25. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  20. "LetGo, the 2nd-hand shopping app, raises another $500M at over a $1.5B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  21. "EBay Rival Letgo Touts Sales Growth as VCs Foot the Bill". Bloomberg.com. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2017-01-02.
  22. Perez, Sarah (22 January 2018). "Letgo takes on Craigslist with addition of housing listings". TechCrunch. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  23. "LetGo, the 2nd-hand shopping app, raises another $500M at over a $1.5B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  24. Hartmans, Avery (20 September 2017). "Billion-dollar startup Letgo is becoming the go-to app for selling your stuff — here's how it works". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  25. Griffith, Erin (14 August 2018). "$100 Million Was Once Big Money for a Start-Up. Now, It's Common". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  26. Noto, Anthony (16 August 2018). "Secondhand marketplace app Letgo scores $500M from Naspers". Biz Journals. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  27. "Letgo CEO and key executive team". Craft. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  28. "letgo Appoints First CPO and CFO". www.businesswire.com. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  29. Perez, Sarah (2015-09-03). "Mobile App Letgo Raises $100 Million From Naspers To Take Over Classifieds In The U.S." TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  30. Gartenberg, Chaim (22 January 2018). "Craiglist competitor Letgo adds housing sales to its secondhand marketplace". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
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