US-based luxury items marketplace 1stdibs has raised $76m in a series D round that included Groupe Artémis, the diversified holding company that is the majority owner of auction house Christie’s.
The round was led by accounts advised by asset management firm T.Rowe Price Group and included Foxhaven Asset Management, investment firm Sofina, investment bank Allen & Company and Michael Zeisser, the former chairman for US investments at e-commerce firm and existing 1stdibs backer Alibaba.
Founded in 2001, 1stdibs runs an online marketplace enabling users to buy or sell vintage and contemporary luxury design items. The platform is used by more than 4,200 dealers across 43 countries and its directory includes furniture, fine art, jewellery and watches.
The series D funding will be used to build out 1stdibs’ core services along with adjacent categories. 1stdibs.com also plans to expand internationally and support its growth with acquisition deals.
1stdibs has now received a total of $170m in primary capital, it said. Alibaba supplied the company with $15m of series C funding in 2014, before venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners added $50m to $60m the following year, according to Fortune.
Insight’s investment, which reportedly valued 1stdibs at $300m, was partially made up of a secondary transaction that involved it buying shares owned by company founder Michael Bruno.
VC firms Benchmark, Index Ventures and Spark Capital had provided $42m of series B funding for 1stdibs in 2012, following an investment by Benchmark the year before that was reported to be $60m in size. The company has not revealed how much of that funding, if any, was made up of secondary share purchases.