Luxury marketplace for used yachts, vintage watches, and fine wines bags $800k seed funding

A yacht currently for sale on Luxify.

A lot of startups today get criticized for only serving the 1 percent; that is, people in the top 1 percent income bracket. But for Hong Kong startup Luxify, one percent isn’t enough.

It’s aiming at the top 0.01 percent.

Luxify is a marketplace for new and used luxury goods. The company, which has offices in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore, just announced it raised US$800,000 in seed funding from undisclosed investors in Asia and Europe. Most of its sellers are located in Hong Kong.

Luxify started out with the typical luxury fashion items – handbags, jewelry, fine wine, and art. Since the site went live in March last year, it has come to include sports cars, boats, aircraft, and even property. Listings on the home page include a 2008 Maserati, a US$13 million yacht, and a waterfront five-bedroom house.

While most listings have quoted prices, Luxify includes a "Make an Offer" function so buyers and sellers can haggle over the final price tag. Communication tools, social media integration, and a map interface make it easy for buyers and sellers to coordinate.

Luxify provides a useful alternative to pawn shops and auction houses, and it allows private sellers to keep their identities anonymous. For high net-worth individuals, this can be an important factor.

"Last year, we helped a private art collector to sell a one-of-a-kind sculpture (worth US$1.5 million). This seller decided to use Luxify as he did not want to go through an auction house. He wanted to remain in full control of the selling process and he wanted to remain anonymous," said co-founder Alexis Zirah.

For the time being, Luxify doesn’t charge any fees or commissions. The site has over 250 professional dealers and 1,000 private sellers. It now has over US$350 million worth of products listed and 9,000 registered users. The most popular categories are cars, bags, watches, and fine wines.

“The luxury market is extremely fragmented and there is no transparency for buyers to know the true value of their pre-owned luxury goods. Currently, the limited distribution channels for both sellers and buyers are dominated by offline formats such as pawn shops, traditional auction houses, and specialized second hand boutiques,” says Zirah. To earn customers’ and sellers’ trust, he says, "We carefully monitor sellers who register and review and approve every single item listed on the platform.”

Luxify offers professional photography and retouching services to get the best images of the items sold. For properties, that includes drones and helicopters that take aerials shots.

Other ecommerce companies in the secondhand luxury goods market include InstantLuxe and Luxury Exchange.