20 Things You Didn’t Know About GOAT Group
GOAT Group is a Culver City California startup that functions as a marketplace for authentic sneakers. The business has been highlighted in recent business news because of its remarkable success and rapid growth in the sneaker industry. It’s a dynamic company that is on the move. If you’re not yet familiar with the marketplace, here are 20 things you didn’t know about GOAT Group to bring you up to speed.
1. GOAT Group is an authentic sneaker resource
According to Crunchbase, GOAT has established a marketplace where consumers can find authentic sneaker brads with a good selection of brands that brings together a variety of retail stores, e-commerce sites, and mobile apps. Multiple resources are combined to offer more than 350 brands of sneakers, apparel, and accessories.
2. GOAT Group is listed under five categories
If you’re looking for GOAT Group on the internet it falls under five different industries. It is a marketplace first and foremost, for consumer goods. It is also listed under shoes and fashion but it also offers apparel and other accessories. It also falls under the e-commerce category, although it offers both online and brick-and-mortar locations.
3. GOAT Group is known by different names
GOAT Group is officially listed under its legal business name as 1661, Inc. However, it can be confusing if you’re trying to get information about the company because it is referred to by a few different names. GOAT Group is the most common, but it is also known as Superb and Grubwithus.
4. GOAT Group is unique in the marketplace retail industry
GOAT Group maintains a unique approach to its business strategy with a platform that uses technology and intellectual property that cannot be imitated by others. The company has secured seven registered trademarks in the Scientific and electric apparatus instruments category. This means that none of its competitors can copy its approach nor the trademarked app that it offers to its users.
5. The technology is complex
The technology that is used by GOAT Group is complicated, but it is working behind the scenes to provide users with a seamless and smooth experience. The website alone uses 29 technologies actively to provide all of its services. A few of the technology products include SPF, Viewport Meta, and iPhone Mobile Compatible, along with 26 other technology products. The overhead for maintaining the tech is high. Although GOAT Group has not provided the details, such technology usually runs companies in the tens of thousands of dollars for their IT budgets annually. It’s one of the costs of doing business.
6. Web traffic is increasing at a high rate
The monthly visits to the GOAT Group website have increased by a high rate of 19.62 percent in the last 30 days. This is good news for the company as a higher number of visitors usually translates into a larger conversion from visitors to customers who purchase goods from the site. The average number of monthly visits is 5,097. GOAT Group has a ranking of number 1,727,577 out of the millions of websites that are registered on the world wide web. The highest numbers of visitors come from people who are living in the United States. This makes up ninety-seven percent of the visitor traffic with a current growth rate in the number of visitors from this country at 22.59 percent. Three percent of the visitors are from Australia.
7. GOAT Group has a five-member executive leadership team
There are five members in the executive leadership team of GOAT Group. Eddy Lu is the co-founder. Daishin Sugano is a co-founder and the CPO of the company. Sen Sugano is the chief brand officer. Yunah Lee is the chief financial officer. Adam Bain is the board director of GOAT Group.
8. GOAT Group’s board of directors is bigger than its executive team
There is no shortage of professional advisement and direction for GOAT Group. There are seven members on the board of directors for the company. Daishin Sugano, CFO of GOAT Group is on the board. He has founded two organizations. Greg Bettinelli joined the board in 2013. He is a partner at Upfront Ventures. Eddy Lu is co-founder of GOAT Group. He is also an investor with 3 portfolio companies. Josh Hannah joined the board in September of 2016. He is a general partner at Matrix Partners and an investor with 14 portfolio companies. Danny Rimer joined the board in January of 2018. He is a partner at Index Ventures and an investor with 2 portfolio companies. Ryan Sweeney joined the board in February of 2017. He is a general partner at Accel and currently serves on 12 boards in advisory roles. Adam Bain joined the board on June 22, 2017. He is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors. He is an investor with 11 portfolio companies.
9. GOAT Group acquired Flight Club
So far, GOAT Group has made one acquisition. The company acquired Flight Club on February 8, 2018. The cost of the acquisition has not yet been disclosed, but it is a fashion brand that now falls under the umbrella of its parent company GOAT.
10. GOAT Group is a late-stage venture capital-backed company
GOAT Group has attracted a large collection of venture capital investors. It has participated in nine funding rounds, which classify it as a late-stage VC-backed business. As of June of 2021, GOAT Group has raised a total of $492.6 million in funding. The most recent round closed on June 24, 2021, as a Series F round.
11. Investor confidence is high in GOAT Group
GOAT Group has attracted a total of thirty-one investors. They have high confidence in the startup’s ability to provide them with a healthy return on the investment they have made. There are seven lead investors including Park West Asset Management, Groupe Artemis, D1 Capital Partners, Foot Locker, and three other powerful investors. Other investors include Accel, Upfront Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Adage Capital Management, Ulysses Management, and funds & accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, according to Techcrunch.
12. GOAT Group has doubled its valuation
The latest round of venture capital funding for GOAT Group raised an astronomical $195 million in additional funding. The previous valuation of $1.8 billion has been more than doubled for the fashion sneaker marketplace. The current valuation of GOAT Group is at $3.7 billion which puts the enterprise and more than three times the required amount to qualify for unicorn status. The company has seen major growth in its expanded group of buyers and sellers. It has become much larger in the last twelve months with a year-over growth rate of 100 percent. This is impressive by any standards. The apparel division of GOAT Group when assessed apart from the other parts of the business has seen a five-hundred percent year-over growth. The numbers for GOAT Group are impressive with more than thirty million members along with six hundred thousand sellers using its platform. It is one of the most successful peer-to-peer marketplaces in the world with a gross merchandise volume of around $2 billion annually.
13. GOAT Group is expanding its workforce
According to LinkedIn, GOAT Group has 516 workers employed within the company. We were interested in finding out if the company has any job openings. We were a bit surprised to discover that there are 156 new job openings posted. Many of the jobs are for the Los Angeles, California area and surrounding cities. We also saw job openings for Secaucus, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois, and New York, New York. This broad approach is evidence that GOAT Group is expanding its infrastructure within the United States.
14. GOAT Group has offices in other countries
We also observed that GOAT Group posted job openings in other countries throughout the world. This approach is evidence of international expansion. They’re recruiting for Sneaker Authenticator in Singapore, with the same positions open in London, England, and Tokyo, Japan. They’re also recruiting for a Quality Control Specialist in Hong Kong, a paralegal in Shanghai, China, and a Talent Acquisition Specialist in Jing’an District, Shanghai, China. There are multiple job openings in various parts of the world, but there is a higher concentration for the United States and China.
15. GOAT Group is a privately held company
You won’t find GOAT Group listed on the public stock exchange. It is well-covered with investors from the private sector who have provided hundreds of millions in venture capital funding. The owners of the company have decided to keep GOAT as a privately owned company. They maintain the majority of control over the business while some of the big investors having undisclosed stakes in the profitability of GOAT. Neither GOAT nor investors are sharing the details of the funding agreements.
16. GOAT Group represents three brands
According to the Official GOAT Group website, although GOAT Group helps to facilitate the purchase and sale of many brands, it specializes in promoting three of the brands. GOAT Group owns Flight Club and promotes this brand along with GOAT and alias. The company’s sales are high enough to make it profitable. This is how it has achieved a valuation that is billions more than the funding it has received. GOAT’s sales and popularity are high with customers who find the platform simple to use and cost-effective for both buying and selling.
17. GOAT gave away a promotional Testarossa
GOAT sponsored a Black Friday event with a tribute to Michael Jordan. The company acquired a 1985 Ferrari Testarossa called the “Flying Mirror,” which is the same year and looks like the one that Jordan drove. This was a huge promotional event that resulted in the biggest and most successful Black Friday that the company has ever had. The company gave away other prizes in the event including $100,000 in GOAT credits, along with several thousand other prizes for participants. The event was held in Los Angeles, California and it gave the company a big boost in popularity.
18. GOAT Sponsors member contests
GOAT held its third annual Global Contest in 2021. They sponsored sneaker customization content and invited contestants from all over the world to participate by creating the most unique custom sneakers possible and entering them into the competition. The winner that was selected received $1,000 in GOAT credit. The GOAT Group has some novel ways of drumming up business and advertising their company. They like to make it fun for everyone and this is one of the reasons why so many members enjoy being involved with the organization.
19. GOAT is involved in social justice
GOAT Group has also made the news with its stance on hate crimes. The company has joined in the effort to stop hate with crimes within our society and has become a part of the recent social movement to crack down on those who commit Asian hate crimes. The company made a generous donation of $100,000 to AAPI organizations to help finance the effort to fight against racism and social injustice to help level the playing field for everyone.
20. GOAT Group is a company to keep your eye on
GOAT Group is an innovative retail marketplace that occupies a unique position in the business world. Their main focus is on authentic sneakers and connecting buyers and sellers, but the company has gone far beyond that. They also include apparel and accessories in the platform. It also remains active in its local community with fun contests and donations to worthy causes. GOAT reached unicorn status by more than three times the amount needed. GOAT Group is still on the upswing. GOAT Group is still growing and expanding. It appears that for now, the sky is the limit. The success of this company stands as a reminder of what just two people with a good idea can do to help themselves and the business people in the world around them.