After raising 7 million euros last year, almost a year ago to the day (May 25, 2021), Patatam does it once more, with a fundraising of 12 million euros, announced on June 23rd. In the wake of this new operation, Patatam announces that it will change its name to now be called Rediv.
“In Latin, Rediv means to return. Of course, we can see the verlan of emptying, but the meaning is indeed that of returning. We decided to put an end to our city commerce strategy, which consisted of collecting second-hand clothes in collection points, sorting them and then reselling them. We don’t have millions of euros to put into every month like Vinted. They have crushed the second-hand clothing market on the Internet, that’s why we have decided to leave our brand strategy to become a logistician”, dissects for La Tribune Eric Gagnaire, co-founder of Patatam and director of the company.
The company collected 2.5 million second-hand clothes
The magnitude of the latest fundraising, +71% higher than the previous one, demonstrates if need be that Eric Gagnaire is not regarding putting on a good figure in difficult conditions but, on the contrary, regarding marking the acceleration of a very clear strategy. In the pipeline for several months, it now aims to make Rediv a highly specialized logistician. A professional capable of proposing a turnkey strategy for the development of a second-hand clothing market.
This low value-added activity, which has long been the figurehead of non-profit association intervention for the benefit of the most disadvantaged, as evidenced by Emmaüs, is now fueled by a movement of commodification driven by the evolution of mores .
A market that can only function thanks to the provision of very large volumes of material. In 2021 Rediv thus specifies having collected 2.5 million second-hand clothes in more than 2,000 collection points, stressing that 1.7 million have been put back on the market “in the new resale spaces the company supplies, more than 400 to date“.
A mega logistics site of 14,000 m2 in Cambrai
Rediv, which works in particular with Auchan, Leclerc or Kiabi, has given itself the means to qualify these collected goods to then redirect them to all brands, distributors, traders and online sellers, underlines the management. This strategy of “plug and play” (plug and play, editor’s note), of a calibrated business ready to start on the fly, is acclaimed underlines Rediv by new major players in the market, such as Showroomprivé. The company already has two large warehouses of 6,000 m2, in Hastingues (Landes) where its headquarters are located, and Morlaàs (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). It announces the opening of a third warehouse of 14,000 m2 in Cambrai (Nord), an area where several of its customers are located.
Cambrai promises to amplify a significant experience already successfully carried out since 2021 in the Hastingues warehouse with the Exotec logistics automation systemalso present at Cdiscount. A French technology that is sparking in inventory management and in which Rediv has already invested heavily. The Landes company, which employs 160 people, might not ensure its development without moving its logistics to an ultra-fast pace thanks to automation. Nevertheless, Rediv intends to recruit 300 new employees by the end of 2023 and achieve a turnover of 15 million euros in 2022.
Rediv intends to continue to surf on the second hand
This explains why the Hastingues company has this time decided to invest 5 million euros to ensure logistics management in Cambrai, since Exotec offers Rediv new storage capacities, up to 10 million items. .
“Our model has reached maturity. It is with professionals that our know-how in collection and sorting, our logistics capabilities and our marketplace are most useful. We are giving meaning to our growth by democratizing access to the second hand directly in all places of consumption, whether physical or digital. We facilitate access thanks to our turnkey solutions and our qualified catalog”, underlines Eric Gagnaire.
Already linked to three major impact investors, which are Colam Impact (Paris), Creas Impacto (Spain) and Quadia (Geneva), Rediv opens up its capital to three more strategic players with this new fundraising. These are Showroomprivé (Ile-de-France), Orchestra (Occitanie) and La Redoute (Hauts-de-France). Probably because the prospects of the model developed by Rediv are promising and should be applied to other commercial activities, in France and abroad.
Patatam left its Basque cradle of Saint-Pierre-d’Irrube to settle in Hastingues in the south of the Landes department in 2021. In a bastide founded (for the record) in the 13th century by the Seneschal of Gascony John de Hastings , in the name of King Edward I, in order to protect this southern part of the duchy from Basque and Béarn attacks and those of the King of France from the Toulouse region. A bastide that has proved attractive to the whole neighborhood…
