Our Investment in Good Buy Gear
By Revolution Ventures Partner Clara Sieg and VP Graham Ober
Although we briefly met Kristin Langenfeld, co-founder and CEO of Denver-based Good Buy Gear, last summer — in the pre-pandemic days of in-person conferences — we really got to know her and co-founder Jessica Crothers entirely over Zoom, a first for our team. As we went on virtual warehouse tours, made the best of “happy” hours on video, and relied on screen sharing, it became obvious Kristin and Jessica are the type of founders we like to back. We’re excited to announce Good Buy Gear’s $6 million Series A round.
Four years ago, Kristin and Jessica were on a mountain biking trip, a brief respite from parenting newborns, when they began discussing a mutual pain point: the amount of money they’d spent on barely used baby and kid gear that was now accumulating in their basements. Good Buy Gear has become a convenient and cost-effective way of clearing out overflowing baby gear and a trusted partner for discovering near-new, verified products. They’ve helped thousands of families extend the life of gear and become more conscientious consumers, saving thousands of dollars and preventing tons of waste from filling landfills.
Consumers are increasingly accepting re-commerce for a few reasons: a desire for uniqueness and individuality, operating on a limited budget, and an increased focus on the environmental impacts of buying only new products. GenZ has been a big driver of the secondhand shopping category’s growth, with 80% saying there is no stigma to buying used goods and 90% saying they have or are open to shopping secondhand when money is tight.
The pandemic has pushed consumers to re-evaluate their budgets. Good Buy Gear makes sought-after brands and products available to parents at more approachable price points with local delivery and nationwide shipping.
Safety and reliability are paramount for parents; yet, there is no trusted, scaled marketplace to find validated secondhand baby equipment. While marketplaces like Craigslist and Facebook continue to move significant volume, they are time-consuming and unwieldy, full of unvetted goods. Moreover, the shipping costs for cumbersome items generally make it cost-prohibitive to buy anything not within pick up distance, further constraining the availability of products in many regions.
Good Buy Gear aims to serve as the arbiter of quality and create the “blue book” for the category. The company’s multi-point, 360-degree inspection leverages data from 5,000+ SKUs processed to date to give customers the confidence to buy reused items that won’t have broken pieces, missing parts, or other issues.
The environmental impact of single-use baby gear is significant. Millions of returned toys, strollers, cribs, car seats, and other items are incinerated every year or stuck in landfills. Generally, vendors prohibit retailers from reselling items once the box has been opened — creating significant waste for things that usually can have a new life with a different family. The startup has already joined forces with several prominent retailers to help them find sustainable solutions to returned baby merchandise.
In addition to identifying key consumer trends, Good Buy Gear is riding a trend of companies moving to new hubs like Denver. It is no secret that the tech industry in Colorado is booming. In 2019, according to Crunchbase data, $2.3 billion was invested across 347 deals in the state — and 2020 is trending higher. With remote work becoming more common by the month and talent magnets like Google, Facebook, Palantir and Salesforce having all opened offices in Colorado in the past few years, a robust pool of employees has flocked to the “Silicon Slopes” for a lower cost of living and better quality of life.
The e-commerce, bargain-hunting, and environmental activism trends propelling the company forward have only just begun, and we’re proud to serve as hands-on partners as Good Buy Gear advances its product offerings, expands into new markets, and doubles down on its strategic partnerships.
