CharityStars announces plans to expand operations following €2 Million series A round
Melanie May | 16 August 2016 | News
Online charity auction platform, CharityStars has raised a €2 Million series A round to expand its operations in key global markets, led by venture capitalist firm 360 Capital Partners, A.S. Roma football player Stephan El Sharaawy, and LastMinute Group CEO Fabio Cannavale.
Based in Milan and with recently opened offices in London, CharityStars ended the first quarter of 2016 with a positive growth of 120% in funds raised from charity auctions compared to the previous year. In 2015 CharityStars conducted €1,800,000 of online sales. Among the most prominent auctions from 2015 were a power-lunch with the founder of Candy Crush, Riccardo Zacconi, which sold for €25,000, an artwork by Andy Warhol which went for €27,000, a Valentino Rossi signed helmet for €15,000 and a Barcelona football shirt with a personalised dedication from Lionel Messi that sold for €11,000.
CharityStars now plans to expand into the US and China.With 400 charity partners so far, CharityStars’ goal is to increase this to 2,000 charity partners by 2018 and double the average sale price, which is currently around €500.
Francesco Nazzari Fusetti, co-founder of the project together with partners Manuela Ravalli and Domenico Gravagno said:
“After the United Kingdom, we want to launch in the US and China. For the latter we already have several thousand users who follow our auctions and have become some of our top bidders. We have just launched the Chinese version of the site and we want to invest in targeted marketing campaigns. A paid online acquisition campaign would be a first for us, given that to date we have just benefited from free celebrity promotion through their social media channels.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.