Japanese sneaker platform Soda raised 6.2 billion yen (€48.1m-$56.4m) in a Series C funding. The main investor was Kream Corporation, a South Korean sneaker reselling platform that is part of the portfolio of South Korean SoftBank Ventures Asia, which in turn is also one of the Series C investors, along with Altos Ventures and JAFCO. SoftBank Ventures Asia had already led Soda’s Series B in January and is also an investor in China-based sneaker reselling platform Nice. Including this latest round of funding, Soda’s total amount raised to date is about ¥8.7 billion (€67.5m-$79.1m).
Soda was founded in 2018 and operates SNKRDUNK, one of the largest sneaker resale platforms in Japan with over 3 million customers per month. According to Soda, the funds raised this time will be used to expand and strengthen SNKRDUNK’s domestic business as well as actively invest in building Asian markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
Along with the new funding, Soda announced that it has acquired Tokyo-based Monokabu. By bringing in its Japanese rival, Soda aims to combine its expertise in authentication, logistics and customer support, among other areas, to create an even more secure service.
According to Soda, the acquisition gives it an 80 percent share of the Japanese sneaker resale industry, making it the market leader by a wide margin. According to the online magazine Tech Crunch, Soda posted record revenue in May 2021, up 900 percent year-over-year. Despite Covid-19, many C2C marketplaces for sneakers, such as StockX, also saw their sales increase.
