Mercari, Inc. (TYO: 4385) is a Japanese e-commerce company founded in 2013.[1] Their main product, the Mercari marketplace app, was first launched in Japan in July 2013, and has since grown to become Japan's largest community-powered marketplace with over JPY 10 billion in transactions carried out on the platform each month.[2][3] Among those Japanese users utilizing one of the country's many community marketplace apps, 94% were found to be using Mercari.[4]
Mercari expanded to the United States in 2014 and the United Kingdom in 2016.[2][5] The Mercari app has been downloaded over 100 million times worldwide (as of 16 December 2017[update]) and the company is the first in Japan to reach unicorn status.[3][6]
Kouzoh, Inc. (currently Mercari, Inc.) was founded by Shintaro Yamada, a Japanese serial entrepreneur in February 2013, and the Mercari app was launched for iOS and Android devices in July of that same year.[7][8] Within a year of its release, Mercari had accumulated over one million individual listings on its platform.[9]
The USD 75 million raised in Mercari's Series D round was set aside by the company for the purpose of further expansion in the US and UK, according to Chief Financial Officer Kei Nagasawa in a March 2016 interview.[2]
In 2014, the company opened an office in San Francisco in preparation for the launch of its app in the United States, which took place in September of that same year.[10][11] In the six years since its initial launch in the US, the Mercari app has been downloaded over 40 million times and has risen as high as number 3 on the US App Store rankings.[12] There are currently around 100 employees located between Mercari's Palo Alto and Portland offices.[13]
It was announced In June 2017, that John Lagerling had joined Mercari from Facebook's management team and would be assuming the title of Chief Business Officer.[13] He has also since been named the US CEO of Mercari, Inc.[14]
In January 2016, Mercari opened their first European office in London.[5] In December 2018, Mercari announced it will dissolve the European branch as a "temporary retreat".[15]
Mercari's main product is the Mercari marketplace app, which allows users to buy and sell items quickly from their smartphones. In Japan, the app is known for its ease of use and unique shipping system, which allows users to ship items anonymously from local convenience stores through agreements with Yamato Transport and Japan Post. In the United States, Mercari collaborates with USPS, UPS and FedEx to let users print shipping labels, in addition to allowing sellers to use a separately purchased label for larger items.[2]
Mercari shares its Tokyo offices with its wholly owned subsidiary Souzoh, Inc., which operates several other consumer-to-consumer (C2C) applications in Japan.[16]
