Wethenew raised €30M to run Europe's sneaker resale — receivership came first

Wethenew was founded in Paris in 2018 by David Benhaim and Michael Holzman as a marketplace for new, hard-to-find sneakers and streetwear, built on authentication and a community of more than two million users. Turnover crossed €100M in 2022. Investors piled in: a €10M round in 2021, then a €20M Series B in May 2023 led by C4 Ventures, with luxury distributor Chalhoub Group and footballer Antoine Griezmann participating. The founders predicted profitability by the end of 2023.

The market turned on the business model. The company said the number of limited-edition sneaker releases fell more than 80% between 2021 and 2024, while brands multiplied colourways and volumes and saturated the market, and the sportswear giant behind most of the most-wanted releases ran into its own difficulties. Pandemic supply-chain chaos and inflation had already weakened demand for hyped pairs. Revenue contracted to €80M in 2023 and the promise of profitability never landed.

On August 6, 2024, the Paris commercial court placed Wethenew in receivership with a six-month observation period, after the company asked for the procedure itself. Management said it would restructure and pivot toward general-release products and direct brand deals, while opening the company to buyers until mid-September. In late 2024 the brand was taken over by AA Investments, a Hong Kong fund that had also acquired French e-commerce names Smallable and L'Exception.