When former TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino joined a startup, we knew it was something that would pique our interest. Panzarino, known to TC staff as an avid collector of everything from shoes to new cooking appliances to iPhones, recently became the latest addition to the Peaka new startup from the founder of Postmates Bastian Lehmann. The app, which features instant cash offers and pickup, promises an easier way to sell your stuff.
Such “stuff” is something Panzarino would know a little about, having once joked to staff that “shoes are my retirement fund.” But TipTop today focuses heavily on the consumer electronics category, not collectibles, offering instant payments for things like smartphones, iPads, computers, gaming systems, cameras and more.
Lehmann tells TechCrunch that the idea was initially sparked by a desire to clear out a cluttered garage, but then narrowed it down to consumer electronics, as they had a more predictable price reduction over time. A year and a half ago, the TipTop team began tracking 50,000 consumer products—mostly electronics—and then used that data to predict the products’ value after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.
“We’ve gotten really good at it,” Lehmann says, adding that they also understand that there are two values associated with an item — the price someone is willing to sell for and the price someone else is willing to buy.
Image Credits: Peak
This led to TipTop’s first product, TipTop Cash, which makes it easy to sell the items you own. The system works similar to the Shopify Shop app’s delivery tracking feature, in that you also connect your Gmail account (or soon, other emails) and optionally your Amazon account. This is done through TipTop’s mobile app, currently only available on iOS. The process allows TipTop to access your purchase data via digital receipts. From there, it creates an in-app catalog of the items you know you’ve bought and the cash offer you can get by selling them through TipTop.
When you’re ready to sell, you can either drop off the item at a UPS store or have an Uber courier pick it up. The latter is based on Postmates’ delivery API, now Uber’s — which Apple still uses to power deliveries in the US (Uber completed its $2.65 billion acquisition of Postmates in 2020.)
“TipTop Cash works like a reverse Postmates,” explains Lehmann. “Postmen have made it super easy to bring the best of the city to your home. And TipTop Cash makes it incredibly easy to get things that belong to you out of your home.”
Image Credits: Peak
While the founder admits sellers could get more for their product if they handled the sales themselves, he believes the convenience of an instant cash offer will appeal to consumers who don’t have the time or inclination to do so.
In an afternoon, you could unload old phones, tablets, laptops, cameras or gaming systems and make a small change with little hassle. Compare that to the more complicated process of selling on a marketplace like eBay or Facebook — the latter where people often spam you with lowball offers or don’t show up for pickup. There are safety concerns about interacting with strangers online, which is why many local shopping and trading markets suggest meeting people in public places rather than at home, which is less convenient.
Since the app’s launch in September, TipTop Cash has recorded $50 million in total proof value among its users, Lehmann says.
Next week, TipTop will add push notifications to proactively encourage users to sell when the price is right. Later, it will also add a camera feature that will let you point the app at items you have or scan paper receipts to get cash offers as well. (Due to higher fraud risks, however, they may not be instant cash offers.)
Image Credits: Peak
Helping consumers sell their stuff is just one part of TipTop’s larger roadmap. The other side of selling, of course, is buying. This will come in the form TipTop Pay, possibly a separate app and payment gateway where consumers can purchase items and pay for them on a monthly basis. That part will include partnerships that Lehmann says he can’t yet discuss.
“You only pay for the value minus the residual value,” he tells us. For example, if an iPhone 15 with 128GB sold for $800 and the residual value after one year was $400, then TipTop would give you $400 for the phone. But if a buyer wanted to use the phone for a year, it would just be $400 divided by 12 payments. When they no longer needed the phone, they could unload it through TipTop Cash and buy their new one.
“Think of it like an iPhone Upgrade Program for everything we own or our partner dealers offer,” suggests Lehmann.
Thanks to Lehmann’s successful exit with Postmates, raising funds for his next project was no challenge. The startup to date has grown $23 million in Series A funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz (Marc Andreessen is on the board), as well as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, and Pinterest, Coinbase and DoorDash board member Gokul Rajaram. Other investors included Scott Banister, Cyan Banister, Nabeel Hyatt, Dan Romero, Jude Gomila, Sean Plaice, Andy McLoughlin, Jeff Clavier and Vivek Patel.
Co-founded by Postmates veterans Mustafa (Alkes) Rahman and Gregory CarlsonSan Francisco-based TipTop is currently a 16-person team that includes several founding members who were former Postmates engineers.
