Luxury E-Commerce Marketplace 1stDibs Taps Banks for IPO

(Bloomberg) -- 1stDibs.com Inc., the e-commerce site for high-end goods and art, has tapped banks to lead an initial public offering this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company is seeking a valuation of at least $1 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The company’s plans haven’t been finalized and could still change.

A representative for 1stDibs declined to comment.

Backed by Insight Partners, the New York-based company raised $76 million in 2019 from backers including T. Rowe Price Associates and Groupe Artémis, which controls Gucci owner Kering SA. Its valuation in the funding round was $520 million, according to PitchBook.

Other investors include Benchmark, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Index Ventures and Spark Capital.

The company, started in 2001, has said it was founded “to bring the Paris flea markets online.”

E-commerce has been performing well since last year when the pandemic hit, forcing shoppers to buy online instead of going to stores. U.S. shoppers will spend $843 billion online this year, up 6.1% from 2020, according to researcher EMarketer Inc.

IPOs by online sellers of goods and services raised $15.7 billion on U.S. exchanges in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was the most since 2014, when Alibaba raised $25 billion in the largest-ever U.S. IPO.

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