Fashion rental app Pickle secures 12 million US dollars Series A funding

American peer-to-peer fashion rental app Pickle has announced a 12 million US dollar Series A funding round co-led by FirstMark and Craft Ventures, with participation from Burst Capital and FJ Labs, investors known for backing leading marketplaces and consumer brands like Airbnb, Uber, Pinterest, Alibaba, and Yelp, as it looks to become the Airbnb of fashion.

The latest funding round brings the rental app’s total investment capital to 20 million US dollars and will help fuel same-day/on-demand rental market expansion, enhance product and community experiences, and drive strategic hiring across engineering, marketing, and logistics to further Pickle’s mission of making high-quality, underutilised goods accessible and rentable on demand.

Currently, Pickle is available nationwide across the US, but the company is looking to focus its efforts on enhancing its on-demand service in New York City and Los Angeles while also ramping up efforts to expand its presence in key cities, such as Miami, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.

Pickle is also planning more in-real-life activations and community events in more cities across the US, including retail pop-ups, as it looks to build on the success of its first New York storefront.

Brian McMahon, co-founder and chief executive of Pickle, said in a statement: “We started Pickle to make renting from each other as easy and on-demand as borrowing from a friend. What began with fashion is proving to be much more – a community-driven marketplace where people shape trends in real-time, make better use of what already exists, and redefine ownership and access in the process.

“Having FirstMark, Craft, and some of the world’s best marketplace investors double down on Pickle is energising. Their belief in what we’re building reinforces our vision, and we’re just getting started.”

Pickle looking to become the Airbnb of fashion following new investment

The investment comes amid Pickle’s surging growth, with the peer-to-peer rental more than quadrupling its net revenue year-on-year in 2024 and tripling the supply on the platform. To date, Pickle has over 200,000 items available for rent across more than 2,000 brands, which can be delivered to renters using courier services such as DoorDash or in-person exchanges.

In Manhattan, the company says, one in four women between 18 and 35 use the service, and nationwide, half of its monthly active users are also weekly active users. The platform also tripled its monthly active users and earned more than 40 million social impressions.

Pickle also notes that it now handles more rentals each week than we did during our entire first year, showing the growth of the business, and it has seen rental use become more diverse and frequent. For instance, compared to last year, ski season rentals have surged by 635 percent, wedding-related rentals have jumped by 520 percent and Halloween-related rentals increased by 255 percent.

Julia O’Mara, co-founder and chief operating officer at Pickle, said: “Fashion has always been a form of self-expression, but now it’s becoming something more – interactive, participatory, and community-driven. Pickle is at the centre of this shift, making fashion more accessible and transforming it into a shared experience—one where people aren’t just wearing trends; they’re shaping them in real-time, exchanging pieces, and deepening connections with one another through fashion.

“A big part of that experience comes from the ability to engage more personally with the people who inspire them – whether it’s someone with an enviable closet just a few blocks away, a creator they love and follow, or a celebrity tastemaker using Pickle to share their wardrobe and build stronger relationships with their community. This funding allows us to take that social experience even further – enhancing the ways our community interacts, scaling same-day rentals, and making it even easier for people to engage with fashion in a more dynamic, social, and connected way.”

Rick Heitzmann, co-founder and partner at FirstMark, added: “At FirstMark, we rarely double down this early, but Pickle is proving to be one of those rare marketplaces where virality, organic growth, and deep consumer love are creating extraordinary network effects – it reminds us of the early days of Instagram when a community-first approach and simple yet sticky product drove explosive engagement. The retention, engagement, and community-driven expansion we’ve seen are signals of a truly category-defining business.

“Pickle isn’t just building a fashion rental marketplace – it’s pioneering a new way for consumers to access and monetize high-quality goods at scale. We couldn’t be more excited to continue supporting Brian, Julia, and the Pickle team as they redefine the future of commerce.”