London: Abhi Arora, co-founder of Fleek, utilises his MBA from Cambridge to innovate in the vintage clothing market. His platform secured $20.4 million in funding and aims to streamline second-hand sourcing while addressing authenticity challenges in North America and Europe.
Abhi Arora, co-founder of Fleek, an online marketplace devoted to wholesale second-hand fashion, has drawn upon his extensive background in entrepreneurship and his MBA from the University of Cambridge to support his innovative venture, which successfully secured $20.4 million in funding last year. Fleek was launched amid the pandemic in 2021, and it seeks to modernise the vintage clothing sourcing process by bringing it online, connecting sellers—primarily large garment sorting centres—with retailers and resellers predominantly in markets such as the USA, UK, and Europe.
Arora’s path to establishing Fleek began in Kolkata, India, where he was raised in a family of entrepreneurs. Following his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2011, he gained valuable experience working with startups across San Francisco and Berlin before relocating to London. He embarked on his MBA journey in 2018, motivated by a desire to step away from full-time employment to engage in ideation and customer research.
Commenting on the value of an MBA, especially amidst the ongoing discourse regarding the teachability of entrepreneurship, Arora expressed his initial reservations before commencing the programme. Speaking to the Financial Times, he reflected, “there’s so much knowledge to tap into [on the MBA].” He acknowledged that while entrepreneurship cannot be entirely taught, the MBA offered essential frameworks and strategies applicable to his business pursuits.
The decision to create Fleek stemmed from a visit to a vintage clothing store in London’s East End during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he observed the challenges faced by the shop owner, particularly regarding supply chain issues. Arora discovered that the sourcing of vintage clothing was primarily an analogue practice, necessitating physical travel to acquire inventory. Armed with insights from his MBA program—particularly the management praxis class, which emphasised the importance of understanding diverse perspectives—Arora was able to build a company that employs approximately 60 people across offices in London, Karachi, and Bengaluru, representing seven different nationalities.
Through Fleek’s platform, Arora aims to cater primarily to the North American and European markets by facilitating bulk sales of second-hand clothing. The supply chain for Fleek largely consists of sourcing from Pakistan and India, as well as countries like Thailand and Dubai. Highlighting the unique social commerce aspects of Fleek, Arora indicated that his experiences in China during a global consulting project significantly influenced the platform’s design, leading to interactive features like product videos and video calls between buyers and sellers.
As Fleek moves forward, Arora is focused on scaling the operation while addressing challenges related to quality and authenticity in the second-hand clothing market. Strategies include establishing quality check centres in Karachi and Delhi, complemented by partnerships with third-party applications such as Legit App, which aids in the authentication of garments.
While acknowledging that practical experience is fundamentally important for entrepreneurship, Arora concluded that an MBA can offer invaluable structured approaches to ideation and provide a supportive network for aspiring entrepreneurs. The continued development of Fleek remains a testament to the intersection of Arora’s entrepreneurial vision and the academic insights gained from his time at the Cambridge Judge Business School.
Source: Noah Wire Services
