AstraLab founder Ivan Paryshev received 2.9% of the capital of the reselling platform The Cultt

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Paryshev first entered the capital of Kult LLC (the platform’s Russian legal entity) on October 1. At the same time, an impact venture fund that specifically focuses on supporting female founders Zerno Ventures (Zerno Ventures JSC) increased its stake in the company from 14.68% to 20.21%.

On October 1, the company also increased its authorized capital by 11%, up to 13 thousand rubles. All The Cultt founders (Anna Avtaikina, Daria Zosimenko, Maria Manaeva, Tatyana Moshkova) reduced their shareholding from 21.33% to 19.22%.

The Cultt has not yet commented on changes to the founders’ makeup. Zerno VC and AstraLab did not respond to RB.RU’s requests at the time of publication.

According to Forbes, before the launch of The Cultt, Avtaikina was developing multimedia products at Yandex, Manaeva was developing products at the advertising technology startup AstraLab, Ermakova was promoting the Russian swimsuit brand Pache, and Zosimenko worked as a personal stylist.

• At the end of 2023, Kult’s revenue increased from 8 million rubles to 155 million rubles. The company came out of losses and its net profit exceeded 16.6 million rubles.

Freedom Finance Global analysts valued Kult LLC at 600 to 1.2 billion rubles, highlighting the high growth rates of the company’s financial indicators.

“The financial statements of Kult LLC according to RAS are presented only for the last two years. It demonstrates high growth rates in revenue and net profit, although it actually recorded a net loss in 2022. Judging by the company’s EBITDA and the growth rate of its business in these last two years alone, Kult’s value is can be estimated between 600 and 1.2 billion rubles,” the analytical company told RB.RU.

Alexey Pavlyuchenkov, chief analyst at the Zorko investment platform, says that in recent years the resale market in Russia has grown at a double-digit rate – 10 to 15% annually.

“If we take into account international statistics, according to which the share of second-hand goods in the luxury segment is about 15% of the entire segment, we will get an estimate of the Russian luxury retail market at about 60 billion rubles “, believes the expert.

According to Pavlyuchenkov, competition in this market, and especially in the field of resale of luxury brand bags, is high and continues to intensify. The leader is Oskelly, followed by growing platforms Second Friend Store, The Cultt, Ex-bags and Spin4Spin.

“We predict that the result of such competition will be an increase in platform marketing costs and a gradual decrease in margins for such businesses. Due to its particularities, I would estimate that this business generates between 1 and 1.5 annual income,” concluded the Zorko expert.

• In 2023, Zerno Ventures first invested $300,000 in The Cultt. The money was used to expand the offer, launch new directions, increase technology, IT development and marketing. The investments were not converted into shares.
• In January 2024, Zerno Ventures invested for the second time in reselling platform The Cultt, earning 14.68% in the company for the first time. “In December 2023 we closed a follow-up round, the transaction amount amounted to $1 million. In general, we believe in the resale market, we are actively analyzing it and are ready to invest in other projects in this area. ”, Zerno’s press service reported to RB.RU Ventures. It was planned to use the funds to expand the project.
• The Cultt was launched in 2020 by Anna Avtaikina, Daria Zosimenko, Maria Manaeva and Tatyana Ermakova. Demand for resold items increased after sanctions were imposed on Russia. The rapid growth of interest in resold items, as market representatives noted to RB.RU, was caused by the cessation of activities of many foreign brands in Russia and the increase in prices for items.
• Cultt’s website states that the company delivers items from Europe and the US from the official websites of Hermes, Chanel, Cartier, Panerai and others.