{"id":632177,"date":"2026-10-16T07:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T07:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632177\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T07:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T07:24:09","slug":"serena-williams-venture-fund-backed-presale-shopping-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632177\/","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams’ Venture Fund Backed Presale Shopping App"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTrace launched its app<\/a> on Thursday, bringing life to the platform backed by Serena Williams<\/a>\u2019 venture fund, Serena Ventures.<\/p>\n

\n\tFounded by Harvard Business School graduates Katie Pfleger, who previously worked at Etsy<\/a> and Ella Rubin, who helped launch Walmart<\/a>\u2019s Online Grocery business, the platform focuses on the \u201cpresale\u201d market. The duo created the app<\/a> to list products before purchase to discover if others are interested in renting or owning it next.<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on their own experiences, the founders said they often justified their own expensive purchases that could be rented out or resold later without having an understanding of who is interested in the piece or what they\u2019d be willing to pay.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTraditional rental<\/a> and resale<\/a> marketplaces largely start with items people already own, then find demand,\u201d said Pfleger and Rubin. \u201cTrace reverses that sequence. You can find the person who wants it next before deciding to buy it first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ella<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tElla Rubin and Katie Pfleger<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Trace<\/p>\n

\n\tUsers copy and paste a product link into the app to create a listing in less than 10 seconds using artificial intelligence<\/a> to pull product details from the retailer\u2019s link. Another user will then \u201ccall it,\u201d offering to rent or buy it later at a specific price and date. The second user \u201ccalling it\u201d is charged when the first user accepts. The price on Trace reflects the retail price minus what is received from the rental<\/a> or sale created \u2014 with users still buying products new from retailers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrace is transforming the way people shop,\u201d Serena Williams<\/a>, managing partner of Serena Ventures, exclusively told WWD in a statement. \u201cAt Serena Ventures, we invested in Trace because of the market opportunity, unique approach and the founders Katie and Ella, who have the experience and grit to make this vision a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter pitching Trace during Alix Earle<\/a>\u2019s visit to Harvard Business School and featuring it in a viral TikTok, Serena Ventures came across the platform during the platform\u2019s fundraising process.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe consumer Trace is looking to capture is lovers of fashion and those wanting to have \u201cgreater access to the things she loves without carrying the full cost of every purchase.\u201d During the app\u2019s beta testing, less than 300 users listed more than 500 pieces and 32 percent of users listed a piece upon sign-up. Trace also shared that 70 percent of \u201ccalls\u201d placed during beta testing were to rent a piece, while 30 percent were to buy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Rendering<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRendering for Trace\u2019s pop-up at Shopify<\/a> SoHo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Trace<\/p>\n

\n\tTrace\u2019s business model sees the buy \u201ccallers\u201d paying a 10 percent service fee and a $3 buyer protection fee, with listers paying no commission on the resale<\/a> products. For rental \u201ccalls,\u201d there\u2019s a 10 percent service fee alongside a $5 to $12 protection fee based on the item\u2019s value and listers pay a 15 percent commission.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTraditional resale is built around what people already own and are ready to part with. But in fashion, demand often peaks much earlier, when a piece is new, in season or suddenly everywhere because a creator wore it. By the time it reaches resale, that moment may have passed and some of the most desirable pieces never make it onto resale platforms at all,\u201d said Pfleger and Rubin.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of the app\u2019s launch, Trace is hosting a pop-up from Friday until Sunday at the Shopify<\/a> SoHo<\/a> location featuring shoppable edits from eight stylists including Becky Penhos, Carly Jordan, Jordanna Sharp and Alexa Eshaghian Speight. The pop-up also features truck shows from women-founded brands such as Mercer Street, Sirrah Archive, Bolola NYC, A Random Company, Mackenzie Belle Jewelry and Maile and programming featuring Bala, Fuze House, Move with Anj, Esspo, GoGreek, Backgammon Social Club and Meet Cute Club.<\/p>\n

\n\tTrace raised $3 million in a seed round led by Serena Ventures, with participation from Shakti VC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trace launched its app on Thursday, bringing life to the platform backed by Serena Williams\u2019 venture fund, Serena…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[16813,2724,363,138,309970,336,208154,111,139,69,22429,54165,18224,83547,87235,145,3316],"class_list":["post-632177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-alix-earle","tag-app","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-business","tag-clothing-rental","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-etsy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rental","tag-resale","tag-serena-williams","tag-shopify","tag-soho","tag-technology","tag-walmart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}