Switzerland-based luxury watch marketplace Chronext has secured $34m in a series D round co-led by Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of retail group Tengelmann, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Venture capital firm Endeit Capital co-led the round, which also featured investment firm Octopus Investments and VC firms Capnamic and Partech Ventures.
Founded in 2013, Chronext has built an online marketplace for new and pre-owned luxury watches. Items undergo a close inspection and authentication in the company’s workshops and come with a 24-month guarantee, and Chronext handles the sales process directly.
The company currently lists more than 26,000 watches in its catalogue and has a team of experts who can find specific watches on request. Apart from worldwide shipping, clients can choose to collect a purchased watch from workshops in London, Cologne, Munich and Zug.
Chronext will use the funding to expand into the US and Asia. Capnamic Ventures led a series A round for the company in 2014 sized in the seven-figure euro range that included luxury services provider Quintessentially Group, JamJar Investments and NRW.Bank, the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia.
MGO Digital Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of publisher Mediengruppe Oberfranken, joined NRW.Bank, Partech Ventures, InVenture Partners, Capnamic, Altus Capital, Playfair Capital and assorted angel investors to provide $5.3m in series B funding for Chronext in 2015.
The company subsequently raised $14.9m in a 2016 series C round in 2016 led by Partech Ventures that included Octopus Ventures, Capnamic, InVenture Partners and NRW.Bank.