Platform integrates into merchants’ shopping experiences, changing how shoppers think about their fashion-related purchases.
The digital economy is spurring great innovation. That is clearly reflected in the recent launch of Croissant, a fintech startup founded by a prominent team of entrepreneurs. They have set a high goal of dramatically changing how consumers think about purchasing.
Croissant’s co-founding team comprised of CEO John Howard (formerly of KKR) and CTO John Klose (Amazon, PayPal), are joined by Head of Product Vrishti Mongia (Meta, Moda Operandi). The team just announced they have closed $24 million in seed funding from top investors Portage and KKR co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis, and others.
The Croissant platform uses data science and AI tooling to generate guaranteed buyback values to customers at the time of their purchase. Shoppers of fashion items like shoes, handbags and more are later able to sell them as used, receiving funds back into their account to make further purchases. Because Croissant is integrated into merchants’ sales platforms, the merchants receive important benefits that include higher customer retention rates, increased conversion and greater average order value.
CEO Howard remarks on how changing technology has impacted consumer purchasing over the years and how Croissant is now adding to that change in a big way.
“Over the past decade, we’ve seen immense changes happen at e-commerce point of sale. But rapidly evolving consumer behavior and expectations mean it’s no longer enough for merchants to have a seamless credit card or mobile wallet experience; they need to activate consumer psychology around the purchase decision in empowering, impactful, and effortless ways to truly stand out,” says Howard.
According to the founding team, Croissant changes customer thinking from being one of debt management associated with their purchases to one of being empowered through asset ownership. Prior purchases residing on the platform with guaranteed value can become liquid for cash that then heightens their purchasing power.
This tedious resale process that exists in the “secondhand” ecosystem involves neither merchant nor customer. While current technology has focused on creating a seamless credit card experience, the Croissant team has introduced a break-out consumer experience: “Bottom line – Croissant contributes to a richer, more vibrant commerce experience for everybody.”
Innovation emerging from digital technology is presenting great entrepreneurial opportunities that are evident in Croissant’s business model, as explained by Stephanie Choo, Partner at Portage.
“Only a small percentage of re-sellable fashion is transacted globally each year, but it’s still a $130 billion market that is rapidly growing. To date, retailers are seeing little to no benefit from this ongoing boom. Croissant enables them to harness the interest in and growth of resale to drive new full-price sales with minimal integration and no need to transact within the secondhand ecosystem themselves,” says Choo.
The seed funding is being used to accelerate Croissant’s MVP launch that included other notable investors: Third Prime, BoxGroup, 25madison, and Twelve Below. Its advisory board is comprised of prominent people in the fashion industry: Rent the Runway Co-Founder and Board Member Jennifer Fleiss; former Chief Merchandising Officer of Intermix Divya Mathur; Lara Meiland-Shaw, a luxury fashion veteran with over 20 years of experience at fashion brands and Homer and Outdoor Voices Founding Partner Andrew Parietti.
With Croissant’s stated mission to empower intentional commerce, it is no surprise that the National Retail Federation also just announced the launch of its Center for Digital Risk & Innovation. The Center has the mission to establish best practices for retailers relating to key technology issues and have a stronger voice in debates over technology in the retail industry.
