Letgo

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Letgo
File:Letgo logo.png
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Online classifieds
Available inEnglish, Czech, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Croatian, Turkish
FoundedJanuary 2015 (2015-01)
SuccessorOfferUp (for North America)[1][2]
Headquarters
New York City and Barcelona[3][4]
Founder(s)Alec Oxenford
Jordi Castello
Enrique Linares
IndustryMarketplace, App
URLwww.letgo.com
Current statusActive only in Turkey, Spain, and Norway
Native client(s) oniOS and Android

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.[5]

History

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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.[6][7][8][9]

In May 2016, the company merged with Wallapop, another mobile classifieds startup.[10] Letgo remained the majority owner of the company and the brand remained Letgo.[11] At the time, there were about 10 million monthly active users between the two apps, according to SurveyMonkey data published by TechCrunch.[12]

From its launch, the company did not charge for its services, earning no revenue, as part of its strategy to grow quickly.[13] 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.[14]

Three quarters of the first round investment of $100 million was slated for marketing.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]

The app launched in Canada in October 2016 and in Norway in November 2016.[18][19]

In September 2019, Naspers spun off its investments in Letgo into a separate company, Prosus.[20]

In March 2020, competitor OfferUp announced they would be acquiring Letgo.[2] As of September 21, 2020, Letgo officially became a part of OfferUp.[1]

Growth

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By September 2015, the company said its app had two million downloads and half a million product listings.[6] Comscore said it was the second-fastest growing app in the U.S., in 2017.[21] As of January 2018, the app had about 75 million downloads, compared to 30 million in August 2016.[22] It had 200 million listings for secondhand goods and about three billion messages were exchanged between users.[23] The company said it had monthly repeated visitors in the "tens of millions".[23] 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.[24]

Funding

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The company raised US$100 million in 2015,[6] one of the five largest first rounds of venture capital financing since 2008.[15] 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.[10] As of September 2017 the company valuation was more than $1 billion. By that time, it had raised $375 million in total capital.[25] In August 2018, it raised $500 million from Naspers.[26][27]

Product

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Letgo feed

The app and website facilitate buying and selling used goods. The marketplace, optimized primarily for smartphones, features large photos of products for sale.[28] No log-in is required.[16] Goods are displayed based on the geolocation closest to the buyer. The app is integrated with instant chat functionality.[28]

In 2018, the company added video listings and image recognition that includes pricing suggestions.[21] A housing section was also added.[29]

See also

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References

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