The Poshmark IPO just boosted CEO Manish Chandra's net worth to half a billion dollars. Serena Williams stands to gain, too.

<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5eaad6be5785325e27048a94-2400/manish chandrafounder ceoposhmarkheadshotcredit jen kay.jpg" border="0" alt="Manish Chandra Founder &amp; CEO Poshmark" data-mce-source="Jen Kay/Poshmark" data-mce-caption="Manish Chandra is the founder and CEO of resale shopping app Poshmark."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Online thrift platform Poshmark went public on the Nasdaq on January 14, opening at $97.50.</p><p>Cofounder and CEO Manish Chandra's 9.2% stake, which was disclosed in the company's <a href="https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-21-007531/">S-1,</a> is worth $585 million, including options exercisable within the next 60 days.</p><p>Poshmark declined to comment for this piece, citing the quiet period surrounding the IPO.</p><p>Tennis legend Serena Williams, who joined the board of directors in 2019, has options to buy $8 million worth of shares.</p><p>"I love working with a company that gives anyone an opportunity to become an entrepreneur," Williams said in a statement when she joined the board. She owns a clothing line, SERENA, and has a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/serena-williams-launches-serena-ventures-vc-firm-for-women-poc-2019-4">VC firm</a> dedicated to companies led by women and people of color.</p><p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5f84a957c255d800190b965c-2400/serena williams vc investor.jpg" border="0" alt="serena williams investor" data-mce-source="Florian Eisele/AP Images" data-mce-caption="In this July 14, 2019, file photo, Serena Williams smiles during a press conference ahead of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. Serena Williams is ranked ninth going into the French Open."></p><p>Poshmark, founded in 2011, allows users to buy and sell second-hand clothing and accessories. Users, nicknamed "Poshers," are able to operate storefronts from their home, with some making <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ultimate-guide-selling-poshmark-according-6-figure-sellers'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">six-figure incomes from Poshmark</a>.</p><p>The firm had considered an IPO in 2019 but postponed in order to focus on growing sales, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sources-poshmarks-ipo-is-back-on-2020-12'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">Insider's Candy Cheng</a>. It was worth the wait.</p><p>The social shopping app became profitable during the pandemic as customers shifted to e-commerce in order to social distance. In the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1825480/000119312520320132/d66583ds1.htm">S-1 </a>filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, Poshmark said it made a profit of $21 million in the nine months ending September 30, a marked turnaround from its $34 million net loss from the same period last year. Revenue rose 28% to about $193 million, up from $150 million over that time frame last year. The platform has 201 million secondhand and new items for sale as of September 30, and nearly 32 million active users.</p><p>Chandra told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poshmark-ceo-manish-chandra-predicts-resale-future-retail-after-coronavirus-2020-4">Insider</a> in May that Poshmark's operations were not significantly disrupted by Covid-19 as its supply chain does not rely on manufacturers and it already had a robust shipping system.&nbsp;</p><p>"Our innate architecture supports this new way of life and I believe the kind of personalized and immersive retail experience fostered on our platform will be the 'new normal' going forward," Chandra said.</p><p>The 53-year-old previously founded Kaboodle, another online shopping website, and ran it from 2005 to 2010. It was acquired by Hearst in 2007. An engineer by training, Chandra was inspired to enter e-commerce by his childhood experiences with his grandfather, who ran a wholesale pharmaceutical store in Chandni Chowk, a market in Old Delhi, India.</p><p>"Each day, I explored the market, observing customers interacting with effervescent shop owners who were selling everything from clothes and spices to metalworks and more," he writes in the S-1.</p><p>"In the decades since, the way people shop has changed dramatically, evolving from small, local retailers on main streets, to big department stores in malls, and ultimately to e-commerce. It seems that we have shifted towards more anonymized, commoditized, and transactional purchases than any time before in the rich history of human commerce ... This led me to wonderwhy couldn't online shopping be as social, exciting, and personal as it was before e-commerce 'disrupted' retail'"</p><p>The advent of the iPhone 4 convinced Chandra that people could buy and sell products from their phones.</p><p>"I saw a future where technology could reinvent shopping by connecting and empowering everyday people," he writes. "A future where anyone could make money selling their style, simply with their phone. One where we could give a second life to millions of items. All I had to do was figure out how to make selling online so easy that anyone with a closet could do it."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poshmark-sellers-made-side-hustles-six-figure-businesses-2020-1" >How entrepreneurs use apps like Poshmark to turn side hustles selling clothes into full-time gigs earning 6 figures or more from home</a></strong></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poshmark-ceo-manish-chandra-predicts-resale-future-retail-after-coronavirus-2020-4" >The CEO of Poshmark explains the opportunity for fashion 'solopreneurs' to make extra income in the hot resale market during quarantine</a></strong></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buy-now-pay-later-boom-creating-new-class-of-billionaires-2021-1" >The 'buy now, pay later' boom is minting a new class of billionaires</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/serena-williams-and-poshmark-ceo-manish-chandra-score-big-from-ipo-2021-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/literacy-test-louisiana-disenfranchise-black-vote-2016-6">We took a 1964 Louisiana literacy test and failed spectacularly</a></p>
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