Etsy acquires fashion resale app Depop for $1.6B to cash in on Gen Z shopping habits

Online marketplace Etsy announced its $1.625 billion acquisition of UK-based fashion resale app Depop Wednesday, as the company looks to take expand its customer base among younger shoppers. Depop is especially popular with people in their teens and early twenties, who use the app to buy and sell clothes, following a similar two-sided online marketplace model to Etsy, which is primarily used to sell handmade goods.

“We are simply thrilled to be adding Depop — what we believe to be the resale home for Gen Z consumers — to the Etsy family,” said Etsy CEO Josh Silverman in a statement. “Depop is a vibrant, two-sided marketplace with a passionate community, a highly-differentiated offering of unique items, and we believe significant potential to further scale.”

Depop will continue to be based in London, where it is headquartered, and will operate as a standalone marketplace run by its existing leadership team.

“We’re on an incredible journey building Depop into a place where the next generation comes to explore unique fashion and be part of a community that’s changing the way we shop,” said Depop CEO Maria Raga in a statement. “Our community is made up of people who are creating a new fashion system by establishing new trends and making new from old.”

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