Torontoâs Sellit9 has secured $4.1 million CAD in seed funding to expand its ârecommerceâ trade-in platform into more categories of goods and begin moving into the United States.
The news: Sellit9 aims to provide Canadians looking to get rid of old household items with an alternative to throwing them out or selling them on existing platforms like Facebook Marketplace. The startupâs seed round, announced today, was led by BDC Capitalâs Seed Venture Fund, with support from fellow new backers AQC Capital and Anges QuĂ©bec, and existing investor MaRS IAF. The startup plans to use this capital to grow its 14-person team, expand across Canada, enter the US, and move into new categories like luxury purses, luggage, and eyewear.
From the source: In an interview with BetaKit, Sellit9 co-founder and CTO Oswaldo Alvarez said he sees room to help consumers âskip the marketplace drama,â from price-haggling to meeting strangers in person.
Following the thread: Founded in 2024 by Alvarez, a repeat tech entrepreneur, and CEO Josh Guttman, a former tech sales leader at Altrio, Lane, and Top Hat, Sellit9 facilitates the exchange of electronics for store credits and discounts, sending items to refurbishing partners instead of landfills. To date, it has helped 3,900 Canadians trade over 6,000 itemsâfrom cameras to phonesâworth more than $2.4 million combined, through its network of 25 merchants and over 100 refurbishers.
Final thought: Guttman hopes to one day make Sellit9 as ubiquitous as buy now, pay later. Kyle Rogers, who has done a similar version of this before at Toronto-based buy now, pay later provider PayBright and its American acquirer Affirm, signed on as Sellit9âs head of customer experience and operations last year to use that experience to aid the young startupâs efforts.
Feature image courtesy Sellit9.