The Real Real sees impressive IPO

Secondhand luxury retailer The Real Real saw their shares jump 50 percent in the first hours of trading after raising 300 million dollars in their initial public offering. The news was reported by CNBC. The shares jumped from an IPO of 20 dollars a piece to almost 30 dollars in trading on the NASDAQ with the symbol REAL. The Real Real's preliminary market value has been set at 2.49 billion dollars.

The Real Real was founded as essentially an online consignment website in 2011 by Julie Wainwright. The company has an authentication department to ensure that none of the goods they sell are counterfeit. Last year they generated over 200 million dollars in revenue.

The Real Real's timing for their IPO is virtually flawless. Bain & Company valued the secondhand luxury goods market at 25 billion dollars in sales in 2018, and at least according to a report by fellow reseller ThredUp, the secondhand retail market will outgrow fast fashion by 2028. Despite their impressive revenue growth they did post a loss of 75.8 million dollars in 2018.

The company currently has two stores, one in Los Angeles and one in New York. They also have consignment offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, Chicago and Washington.