London-based start-up Haz, an AI social commerce app that connects friends through the things they own, announces £1.1m in pre-Seed funding led by Speedinvest with participation from the scout programmes of A16Z (co-founder Reface, Dima Shvets), Atomico (Sameer Singh), Concept Ventures (Oliver Kicks), and notable individuals from Lapse, Lendable, Lottie & Ecoigo. The funding will be used to develop Haz’s proprietary AI technology and launch the platform in the UK before expanding across Europe.
The global second-hand apparel market is set to soar to $350 billion by 2028, growing three times faster than the overall global apparel market. The global refurbished electronics market is also expected to be valued at $272.91 billion by 2031, growing by over 12% year-on-year. Haz wants to capitalize on the rapidly growing demand in resale by using its AI technology to scan digital receipts in users’ email inboxes. This completely removes the manual element of listing something you own for sale, creating a seamless resale experience.
Launched in late March of 2024, and available to download for free on iOS, Haz currently has thousands of users, and the liquidity of supply on the app has increased by 1,163% in the last 3 months alone.
82% of Gen Z now think about the resale value of an item before they even buy it, yet 47% of items fit for resale remain unsold. It takes a lot of time to resell something and consumers still lack the data they need to make informed resale decisions. That’s where Haz comes in.
Ronan Harvey-Kelly, Co-founder
Fundamentally, we’re making it easier and safer for people to turn unwanted items into cash, while building a completely new way for friends and like-minded people to connect. By completely removing the manual element of listing something pre-loved for sale, the buyer experience improves tenfold as shoppers are no longer restricted to only being able to browse second-hand items that are actively being sold in that given moment.
Glenn Keller, Co-founder
It is clear that the future of commerce is resale. While we have seen huge advancements in how people shop new, the second-hand industry has lacked AI innovation over the last five years. Your friends follow your location, like your photos, and see what you're listening to in real time. Now Haz lets them track and engage with what you own - and this new type of connection is what excites us most about Haz.
Katharine Spooner, Investor at Speedinvest
Haz presents a promising approach using proprietary AI to balance the world's overproduction of apparel and electronics. Haz stands out for many reasons, most notably their progress in automating the process of turning unwanted belongings into money. I truly believe in their mission, technology, and approach.
Dima Shvets, Co-founder of Reface & a16z Scout
Haz is utilizing the new funding to enhance and train its proprietary AI models, including remote authentication technology, and to expand its team of engineers and creators, with the goal of rapid growth across the UK.
