Beni

Thrilled to kickoff this program this summer!

Beni is absolutely changing the game for fashion resale. We talked to their CEO & Co-founder Kate Sanner about their innovative approach to sustainability and how they're revolutionizing the secondhand market with their unique tech and user experience.

New York Tech Week was a whirlwind, featuring 700+ events. For those curious about what smart and innovative people are up to in New York and beyond, here's a sampling of some of the incredible companies I had the opportunity to meet or hear speak at various events, including Techstars' Demo Day, NY Tech Week Breakfast with Fashion Innovation Leaders (hosted by Carta), and more. • Arête: A marketplace that curates fashion styling and shopping via AI technology, providing recommendations focused on incredible emerging brands. • Beni: Aggregates second-hand retail all into one platform, eliminating the need for shoppers to visit multiple sites to find their desired items. • Blanka: Assists influencers, celebrities, and individuals in building their own private label beauty lines at little to no cost, offering a seamless process. • CodSpeed: Specializes in backend testing to ensure higher quality performance. They provide a "measure twice, cut once" system done for you. • IAMBIC: Creates beautiful AI-tailored shoes designed for a perfect fit. After 3 years of intensive R&D backed by the U.S. National Science Foundation, they were recognized as a TIME Best Invention (full disclosure: I advise them via Techstars!). • Offemarket: Focuses on off-price retail to help sell excess inventory, addressing the growing issue of fashion waste and combating the fashion-to-landfill cycle. [https://offe.market/] • Recepta (Techstars ‘24): Offers branded and itemized digital receipts, making it easy for consumers to track their purchases (goodbye three-mile-long receipts from Duane Reade!) and provides higher touch points from the seller. If you're interested in learning more about these companies, I'd be happy to make introductions! #NYTechWeek #fashion #tech #techstars

Has anyone ever used Beni? We added shopping with Beni to our Mammoth Climate Challenges recently, and I’ve been LOVING it. Their Chrome extension automatically searches secondhand sites for products similar to ones you’re looking at from retailers (like the Girlfriend Collective search I was just doing!) It’s a great nudge to easily find the same products for less money, and more impact! #secondhand #climatechallenge

We are joined today by Kate Sanner who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Beni! What makes this company a unicorn? We aren't just building a product, we're building a movement. People are begging for better ways to shop and we've built the tool to help them!

Let's talk about Commons. The sustainability-focused app syncs your credit cards and tracks the carbon emissions from your purchases to help you gain insights into how your spending habits impact the environment. Additionally, it gives you tips for more #ecofriendly living and hosts challenges that gamify sustainable habits. They just launched their first-ever in-app Collective Challenge, in which they’re rewarding all shoppers for buying secondhand instead of new throughout May. And, since Beni makes it easier than ever to buy resale, we figured we'd share the challenge, so Beni users can get rewarded for the sustainable shopping they're already doing (or have been thinking about doing). Download Commons and use Beni to start earning rewards for your sustainable purchases today: https://lnkd.in/gKrsA-sk. Beni 🤝 Commons #sustainablefashion #sustainablestartups

People go crazy for good deals. While Black Friday might be the biggest retail sale event that comes to mind, there are over a dozen major sales throughout the year—including the upcoming #MemorialDay weekend sales—that put consumers into shopping frenzies as they race to snag the best deals and save some money. And even though it seems like a good idea in the moment, these short-term benefits can ironically lead to overspending, as heavily marketed “FOMO” encourages shoppers to make impulse buys to avoid missing out on limited-time offers. But that doesn’t mean all deals are bad—in fact, Beni users save an average of 55% with resale deals year-round. So, instead of giving in to or feeling pressured to take advantage of the marketing ploys of these limited-time offers, we invite you to think secondhand first this #MemorialDaySale season and beyond. To help, we’ll share resources in our newsletter (linked below) to make it as easy as possible for you to navigate the world of resale, whether you’re a total newbie, a thrift-star or somewhere in between. We’ve also partnered with Commons, an app that rewards people for sustainable living. This month, they’re giving extra rewards to anyone who shops secondhand (which should be a breeze for Beni users!). Download the Commons app to start earning rewards today: https://lnkd.in/gKrsA-sk. Ready to see just how fun and easy it can be to find the things you want, for less and in a sustainable manner, 365 days a year? Make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter and follow along: https://lnkd.in/giP2PE4h.

If you’ve ever wanted to get class credit for online shopping, here’s your chance: https://lnkd.in/giJd-KdR. ⁠ Are you passionate about fashion and driven to deliver an excellent customer experience? Do you want to learn about the resale industry and how our high-growth startup is leading the charge in changing the way consumers shop?⁠ ⁠ Look no further: we're looking for some dedicated and enthusiastic Product Marketing Summer Interns to join our team this summer!⁠ ⁠ Here's what you'll be doing:⁠ ⁠ 🛍️ Shop with the Beni browser extension to source relevant products from Poshmark, ThredUp, The RealReal and more Beni partners to curate thematic collections e.g. “European Summer.”⁠ ⁠ 🔍️ Research fashion trends and conduct social listening analysis to help inform content for marketing and product purposes.⁠ ⁠ 🤝 Collaborate with partners and brands to create and maintain collections within the Beni app and extension, as well as across marketing channels.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Test and report on new Beni features to improve user experience and inform product optimizations.⁠ ⁠ 🤳 Assist in creating, posting and optimizing content across multiple social media platforms, including but not limited to, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.⁠ ⁠ 📣 Promote Beni to your existing communities and networks to foster growth and bring more people in to the world of resale.⁠ ⁠ Tap the link to apply today, or tag someone in the comments who'd be perfect for this job: https://lnkd.in/giJd-KdR. ⁠ #hiring #jobopportunity #summerinternship #internship

We wrapped up Earth Month by hosting happy hour and discussion on consumer climate solutions with our friends at Beaker as part of #SFClimateWeek! Commons’ CEO Sanchali Pal moderated a panel discussion with James Rogers, VP of Sustainability of Rothy's, Sarah Pinner, Co-Founder of Beni, and Kiana Kazemi, Co-Founder & CEO of Beaker and co-Founder of Intersectional Environmentalist. A few highlights from the conversation included: 🌿 Reframing ourselves as users, instead of consumers, aiming to leave what we use better than we found it 🍃 Taking inspiration from nature for ‘positive’ growth, instead of just avoiding harm ☘ Choosing progress over perfection by supporting localized, circular, and shared models of resource use 🌱 Prioritizing what’s best for people and the planet at every step of the company value chain, from workers to users and beyond The panel was surrounded by a showcase featuring climate companies making climate-friendly living accessible to consumers, including Mill, Beni, Beaker, and Sway. We left feeling inspired by the progress made and motivated by the work companies and governments still need to do to make climate-friendly living convenient and accessible for all. We’re also excited to share that our wine sponsor for the evening, Eden Rift Vineyards, is offering free tastings for two to Commons supporters. Just let them you’re a friend of Commons when you book! Eden Rift is California’s oldest operating vineyard, under vine since 1849. It is a commitment to stewardship of a storied estate, based on the principles of sustainable agriculture and minimal intervention at all stages of the wine growing and winemaking process. Named one of the world’s top 100 estates by W&S Magazine 2022/2023, they are just 1.5 hours south of San Francisco.

How did you hear about us? It's a pretty simple question. But it can lead to powerful insights and opportunities. Last week at Beni, we noticed a surge in responses to our HDYHAU survey stating they heard about our company from "Good Morning America" and "ABC News." After a quick Google search, we were able to track down the clip in which we were mentioned (shoutout Emily Sanner 🙌 ). Apparently, Ginger Zee had included Beni in her Earth Day segment (check out the 4:10 mark in the video linked below) as an easy way to shop secondhand online and combat clothing waste, which was pretty cool to see. What was even more cool, though, is that we were then able to use part of the clip to generate more buzz. As you can see in the screenshot below, auto-captions decided to call us "Benny" instead of "Beni", so we took to Instagram Stories to point out the discrepancy in the hopes that Ginger would re-share the story to her audience of 1.1M followers. And, lucky for us, she did (thank you again!!). So, no matter what stage your company is at, I strongly recommend including a HDYHAU survey to gather insights about your customers. You never know what those insights could lead to. https://lnkd.in/geVf2q_Z