Peer-to-peer marketplaces have boomed in the last two decades. Companies like Poshmark made reselling clothing to fellow consumers possible in a couple clicks. But when it comes to furnitures, the market didn’t pick up. High transportation costs make it a hassle. That’s why AptDeco improves the online second-hand furniture selling and buying experience by leveraging technology and its own delivery service – without expensive warehousing fees.
Which problem is AptDeco solving?
AptDeco is addressing the inefficiency, hassle, and environmental impact of traditional furniture resale methods and linear furniture consumption. Platforms like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace result in no-shows, awkward negotiations, and logistical challenges for buyers and sellers alike, making it difficult for consumers to engage in furniture resale. Furniture resale is important not just to save consumers money when parting ways with their furniture, but also to fight environmental damage. Over 12 million tons of furniture end up in landfills annually, contributing to massive waste and environmental harm. This linear consumption model of furniture is unsustainable, with millions of items discarded each year instead of being reused or resold.
AptDeco addresses these problems by providing a fully integrated platform that simplifies the entire furniture resale process. Our solution manages everything from listing and pricing to seamless logistics, including pickup and delivery, eliminating the need for sellers and buyers to coordinate directly or handle transportation. For retail partners, our platform offers a secondary and scalable channel for their excess inventory, returns, and floor models. By streamlining resale and reducing waste, AptDeco helps divert millions of pounds of furniture from landfills, creating an environmentally friendly, efficient, and safe alternative to traditional resale methods.
You’re building a two-sided marketplace. Which strategies have you been using to keep both sellers and buyers active on your platform?
At AptDeco, we take a multi-layered approach to building brand loyalty, starting with personalized, high-touch customer support. Every interaction is designed to make our customers feel cared for—whether they’re listing a piece of furniture or waiting for delivery, we provide ongoing updates through proactive communication, so they never feel left in the dark. We’ve built a user-friendly platform that handles everything from curated listings to secure, easy payments and seamless logistics. Our proprietary logistics technology ensures that pickups and deliveries are coordinated efficiently, with precise scheduling that gives customers flexibility. By making the process smooth and reliable, we remove the typical hassles of buying and selling furniture, which keeps users coming back.
Beyond convenience, our mission resonates deeply with eco-conscious customers. As a company driven by sustainability, we’ve diverted over 33 million pounds of furniture from landfills. This environmental focus builds loyalty, especially with Gen Z and millennial consumers who prioritize sustainable choices. They feel connected to a larger purpose when using AptDeco, knowing their furniture choices help reduce waste. In fact, 40% of our users refer friends and family because they believe in what we’re doing, and our referral programs reward them for spreading the word.
Another key element is our ability to maintain strong relationships with existing users. We use customer data to send personalized follow-ups and highlight products that match their style and needs. This tailored approach, combined with engaging content like customer stories, furniture transformations, and tips for sustainable living, keeps our community invested in the AptDeco experience. Our 60% reorder rate and high NPS score (58) are a testament to how well this strategy works.
Finally, we’re proud of the social proof we’ve built with 40,000+ customer reviews averaging 4.6 stars, showcasing that we deliver on our promise of convenience, quality, and sustainability. This reinforces trust in our brand, leading to repeat business and long-term loyalty from a community that knows we consistently deliver an outstanding experience.
What does the competitive landscape look like, and how do you differentiate?
There have been at least four competitors that raised significantly more funding than us (5x – 20x), despite having inferior business models. Today, all of them have now shut down. AptDeco has outlasted the competition by leveraging our superior no-warehousing logistics and building an end-to-end software solution that addresses the needs of both consumers and retailers.
The only remaining competitors are peer-to-peer exchanges that are rife with haggling, no-shows, and logistics coordination issues. AptDeco uses proprietary logistics software catered to the furniture industry to ensure safe, seamless pickup and delivery without requiring warehousing. Our curated listings, advanced pricing algorithms, and high demand for top-brand furniture make the experience fast, efficient, and sustainable.
Our focus now is on expanding our brand presence through paid and unpaid channels.
We’ll be using the funding towards further expanding our B2B business. We’ve recently taken a huge step forward with the launch of our Resale OS—a proprietary technology designed to power resale for major furniture retailers. This system doesn’t just make the buying and selling process easier for consumers; it offers B2B solutions for retailers, allowing them to manage excess inventory, returns, and floor models. This is a unique offering that no competitor can match, and it positions AptDeco to be the go-to resale platform for top furniture brands.
How are your B2B partnerships helping you grow your business?
B2B partnerships are a cornerstone of AptDeco’s growth strategy, allowing us to extend our platform’s reach and increase our revenue in ways that go beyond direct consumer transactions. Through Resale OS, our proprietary B2B solution, we offer furniture brands a seamless way to enter the resale market by handling excess inventory, returns, and floor models without warehousing. This model benefits partners like West Elm, Pottery Barn, Article, and La-Z-Boy by providing an efficient, sustainable resale channel that supports their bottom line and sustainability goals.
These partnerships not only drive recurring revenue through our subscription-based model, but they also bring a consistent influx of high-quality inventory to AptDeco, attracting more consumers and strengthening our brand as the first choice for secondhand furniture. With over 30 trusted brands on board and a $100M pipeline, our B2B strategy is accelerating our path to profitability and positioning AptDeco as the go-to resale platform for furniture.
You were selected into Y-Combinator, one of the top accelerators in the country. How is this helping you grow your business?
Y Combinator was a great experience for us – it pushed us to focus on what matters most in the early days: getting our first few customers and learning everything we could from them.
One of the most valuable takeaways was embracing the “do things that don’t scale” mindset. That meant getting scrappy, doing the unscalable things to understand our customers, and using those insights to iterate quickly and build something people actually wanted. YC instilled a customer-first mentality in us that still guides how we operate today. Fast feedback loops, relentless focus on user experience, and constant iteration are at the core of how we build at AptDeco.
And of course, the YC network is second to none – whether it’s advice, intros, or just support, we’re always just one connection away from someone who’s been through it. There’s nothing else like it.
If we talk again in 12 months, which milestones will you have achieved?
Our roadmap is designed to drive profitability and long-term growth. With profitability anticipated soon, our focus for the next 12 months is on scaling through product innovation, market expansion, and advanced logistics.
In 2025, we plan to implement AI-driven enhancements in our curation, listing, and routing systems, which will lower costs and improve pickup and delivery efficiency. By expanding Resale OS, we’ll deepen our partnerships with top furniture brands, making AptDeco the go-to resale platform in the industry. Looking ahead to 2026, an upgraded web app and the launch of our mobile app will further streamline the user experience, setting us up to capture an even larger share of the booming resale market.
