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October 21, 2026
Serena Ventures has led a $3 million seed round in Trace. It is a fashion app that lets shoppers find potential renters or buyers for clothing and accessories before purchasing them. Shakti VC also participated in the round.
The app, created by Harvard Business School graduates Katie Pfleger and Ella Rubin, lets users list items for rent or resale before purchasing, effectively reversing the traditional resale model by identifying demand upfront.
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Trace Wants to Transform How People Shop
American tennis icon Serena Williams, managing partner of Serena Ventures, said the firm invested because of the market’s size, the company’s approach, and its founders. “Trace is transforming the way people shop,” Williams told WWD. She said founders Katie Pfleger and Ella Rubin “have the experience and grit to make this vision a reality.”
Trace changes how resale typically works. A shopper considering a new purchase can paste a product link into the app, where artificial intelligence gathers relevant details and generates a listing in less than ten seconds. Other users can then request the item by offering to rent or buy it from the person who listed it, at a specific price and date. Once the lister accepts the request, the requester is charged, while the original shopper still buys the item new from the retailer.
Trace Founders Build on Early User Demand
According to WWD, Pfleger and Rubin explained that most rental and resale platforms start with products people already own and then try to find buyers, whereas Trace works the opposite way by letting someone secure the next user before making the purchase. The founders contend that interest in fashion is strongest when an item is newly released in season or gains attention after a creator wears it, and that by the time such pieces appear on resale platforms, peak interest has often faded.
Both founders graduated from Harvard Business School. Pfleger previously worked at Etsy, the online marketplace, and Rubin helped launch Walmart’s online grocery service. During its beta phase, fewer than 300 users posted more than five hundred items, and 32% of users created a listing immediately after signing up, WWD reported.
70 out of ten requests during the test were for rentals while the remainder were for purchases. The company applies a 10% service charge plus a $3 protection fee on purchase requests, and charges no commission to listers when an item is resold. Rental requests include a 10% service fee and a protection fee ranging from $5-$12 based on the item’s value, and listers pay a 15% commission.
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Inside Serena Ventures’ Expanding Winning Portfolio
Williams founded Serena Ventures before ending her professional tennis career in 2022 and has since grown it into one of the most recognized venture capital firms led by a former athlete. The firm completed its first fund of $100 million in 2022 and has invested in companies such as MasterClass Tonal and Impossible Foods, along with Esusu, a United States-based rent reporting financial technology company now valued at $1.2 billion.
The investment in Trace follows shortly after Williams expanded her business portfolio to include watch design. In September, Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet introduced the Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph Serena Williams, the first watch she has co-designed with the company, according to Essence.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has collaborated with Audemars Piguet for over ten years. The 38-millimeter timepiece features a white ceramic case and bracelet, a pink-toned mother-of-pearl dial, and a 22-carat pink-gold rotor visible through a sapphire case back. It is powered by the new self-winding Calibre 6401 chronograph movement.
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Gear Patrol reports the watch is priced at $95,900 and limited to 500 pieces. At the launch, Williams stated that she has always believed strength and feminine energy can coexist.
To celebrate the launch, Trace is hosting a weekend pop-up at its Shopify store in SoHo, New York. Serena Ventures discovered the startup during its fundraising period after the founders presented Trace at Harvard Business School during a visit by social media personality Alix Earle, who highlighted it in a TikTok video that quickly gained wide attention, according to WWD.
