Hong Kong-based luxury watch platform, Wristcheck, has closed an $8-million seed round led by venture capital firm Gobi Partners, with participation from Singapore’s K3 Ventures.
Founded in 2020, Wristcheck is a buy-and-sell luxury watch platform. The startup works directly with brands for the authentication of the watches both online and offline in its physical store.
The funding was led by Gobi Partners GBA’s Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund Greater Bay Area Fund. Some of Gobi Partners’ other portfolio companies include Animoca Brands, AirWallex, Prenetics, and GOGOX. Prenetics and GOGOX went public on Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange respectively last year.
K3 Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Singapore, has also invested in AirWallex and other companies such as TikTok, Grab, Airbnb, and SpaceX.
Wristcheck will use the seed round proceeds to expand further into Asia. “When market conditions improve we will be considering a few key markets like Southeast Asia and China,” co-founder Austen Chu told DealStreetAsia.
In addition to geographic expansion, Wristcheck is also planning on developing its web platform as well as a mobile app, which is expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year, Chu added.
According to Wristcheck, 43% of its paying customers were under the age of 30, which bares a different market of young high net worth individuals with spending power for them to tap into.
In the buy-and-sell business, Wristcheck authenticates and inspects its products with trained professionals and an in-house certified watchmaker to provide authentication and warranty services to customers.
The startup was co-founded by Chu alongside Sean Wong. Chu is an alumnus of New York University while Wong has served a stint at Hypebeast, an e-commerce platform for men’s fashion.