Dela Raises $1 Mn to Help Prevent Marketplace Scams

The funding came from an unnamed private investor and will be used to further develop Dela’s product.

Van der Velde came up with the idea after she was scammed while selling her own laptop. That experience pushed her to create Dela, a platform that aims to make payments on secondhand marketplaces safer and help prevent fraud.

Dela handles payments for second-hand items listed on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.

Buyers pay through the Dela app, while the money is held until they receive the item. Stripe processes the payment, and buyers have 24 hours to check the product before the money is released to the seller.

“I lost the laptop, I never got paid for it, and I paid him twice on top of that. In one afternoon,” she said.

“We have an amazing development team and an experienced advisory board backing Dela,” van der Velde said.

“Our goal is to make Dela the default payments and shipping app for peer-to-peer deals, so people can buy and sell without the stress.”

About Dela

Dela is a Sydney-based payments startup that makes second-hand marketplace transactions safer. Its platform helps buyers and sellers handle payments securely when trading through platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.

The company holds the buyer’s payment until the item is delivered and checked, helping reduce scams and build trust between buyers and sellers. Dela is available on both Apple and Android devices.

The company was founded by Meg van der Velde after she was scammed while selling a laptop. The buyer sent a fake payment receipt, claimed to have overpaid and then asked for a refund.

A fake courier later collected the laptop and demanded money to return it. The experience led van der Velde to create Dela to make second-hand marketplace transactions safer.

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