‘Cash for gold’ but online: Alloy unlocks a new ecommerce niche

Starting a gold-buying company wasn’t part of Brandon Aversano’s plan. But then, neither was facing cancer at age 30.  

While undergoing treatment, Aversano brought jewelry he’d inherited from his grandmother to Philadelphia’s centuries-old Jeweler’s Row district, hoping to turn it into cash to pay mounting medical bills. Instead, he had what he described as “an absolutely horrific experience,” with what felt like lowball offers and little visibility into how prices were set.

“I was having this problem in possibly the most vulnerable moment in my life,” Aversano said.

That moment became the foundation for Alloy, the Newtown-based startup he launched in 2023 that buys gold jewelry and other precious metals directly from consumers online.

Trading gold goes back millennia, and the industry has long carried a reputation for practices many consumers view as predatory. Aversano pairs his tech-enabled platform with strong customer support and upfront pricing, an alternative to flashing “Cash for Gold” signs.

It’s been a success, says Aversano, who described revenues more than doubling after the first full year in business. Things are on track to double again this year, he said, to over $20 million earned.

A more transparent gold buyer

Aversano started his career in management consulting, far from the jewelry world. He then worked on strategy projects for JetBlue before moving to JPMorgan Chase, where he oversaw a major co-branded credit card portfolio, including the Amazon Prime card.

His startup’s model centers on making the process easier to understand. Customers request a free evaluation kit, send in their physical items through an insured shipping process and receive an offer based on weight, gold content and current market prices.

To determine value, Alloy uses X-ray fluorescence technology to analyze the exact composition of each item, combined with certified scales and real-time pricing data.

Aversano said trust is built as much through people as through product.

The company invested early in what it calls its Alloy Advisor program: a customer support team trained to walk users through the process before they send in their jewelry. It also built out educational resources and, in some cases, advises customers not to sell to Alloy if they can get a better price elsewhere.

“We just try to be as honest and transparent as possible,” he said. “I think that goes a really, really long way with customers.”

Getting off the ground

Aversano initially funded the company himself, liquidating his 401(k) to get it off the ground. Alloy later raised a small friends-and-family round, followed by roughly $550,000 from an angel syndicate.

In 2024, the company raised a $1.5 million institutional round led by the VC firm 11 Tribes, with participation from Hustle Fund, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and other investors. A follow-on growth raise of about the same size came shortly after.

In total, Alloy has raised just over $3 million to date.

The company’s growth has been rapid. Alloy generated about $300,000 in revenue during its initial partial year in 2023, followed by $4.4 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025. Aversano said the company is on track to exceed $20 million in revenue in 2026.

That growth has come with a focus on discipline, particularly in an industry where many operators maximize margins by paying sellers as little as possible.

“We did the most we possibly could to pay customers the most that we possibly could, and still be able to run a viable business,” he said.

After a couple of years of scaling, Alloy reached profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025 and expects to remain profitable this year. The company now has 22 employees, with about eight based in Pennsylvania and the rest working remotely across the country.

What’s next: A jewelry marketplace

Aversano said the next phase of Alloy goes beyond buying gold.

As the company scaled, the team noticed that a significant portion of the items coming in were intact, wearable pieces that could be resold rather than melted down.

“We realized there was a way to give this jewelry a second life,” he said.

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The company began piloting a resale program, Alloy Market, in late 2025, listing select pieces back to consumers. Now, the company is preparing to expand that into a broader marketplace, where users can both sell and buy jewelry through the platform.

What makes the model different, Aversano said, is how it handles resale profits. If Alloy sells an item for more than expected, the original seller receives a portion of that upside.

“We’re going to remit 25% of that profit back to you,” he said.

The goal is to create a more circular system that gives sellers more transparency, even after their item leaves their hands. For Aversano, that focus ties back to the company’s origin. Going through cancer treatment while starting Alloy helped shape the company’s values early on, he said.

“It really, really built empathy into the core values of the company,” he said.

Now, as Alloy moves into its next phase, he sees the business as something more established.

“What we’re doing is not like an experiment anymore,” Aversano said. “It’s a repeatable kind of go-to-market playbook.”