Getting rid of old items of a loved one after they die can be a painfully time-consuming and arduous process if done without help. You have to sift through furniture, artworks and keepsakes to determine what to keep, sell, or donate.
Some people simply hold an estate sale after picking out any particularly valuable items for auction or an antique store. Others hire local specialists who do the job for them.
Everything But The House wants to manage all of this online for its clients. The company said Monday that it has raised $30 million in new funding led by Greenspring Associates, with participation from existing investors, early Twitter investor Spark Capital and Greycroft Partners. The new funding will be used to expand to more U.S. Cities.
CEO Andy Nielsen explained that the startup will come to a user’s home and go through all the items and select what should be sold or donated. His company will photograph everything from coins to cars, price items, store them, and then sell the items on its site. In turn, the startup takes a cut from sales, which Nielsen says averages around 35%. Estate sales on the site range from $15,000 worth of goods to mega sales in the millions of dollars.
Everything But The House’s service is currently available in 14 cities, and in 2014 alone, brought in $14 million in gross sales volume (the value of items sold) on its site. If Nielsen’s take on the startup’s share is accurate, the startup brought in slightly less than $5 million in revenue last year. Nielsen adds that the company’s revenue is growing at 150% year over year.
The startup has also brought on Mandana Dayani, the former vice president of fashion designer for Rachel Zoe, as chief brand officer. Dayani will open a Los Angeles office, the company said.
In the case of Everything But The House, competition is aplenty. In addition to auction houses and local estate sale specialists, there are Craigslist and eBay (EBAY).
Everything But The House is betting that a more centralized approach to estate sales will succeed. But that also depends on attracting potential buyers to its upstart site, which can be a challenge in an era in which there’s no shortage of alternatives to buy used goods.
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