The Dutch startup that's building a high-end eBay for collectors just raised $82 million in funding

Dutch startup Catawiki has raised a huge Series C round of funding: $82 million in investment from Lead Edge Capital, as well as existing investors Accel and Project A Ventures.

Catawiki isn't a normal auction website like eBay. Instead, it's geared towards collectors who are looking to sell unique or collectible items online.

The company was started in 2008 by comic collector René Schoenmakers and developer Marco Jansen. The site was originally a Wikipedia-style listing of auction catalogues, but in 2011 it started to host the actual auctions on its site.

Log onto Catawiki and you'll see listing for diamonds, Rolex watches, fossils and even classic cars. It's like a high-end eBay for specialist collectors.

Here are some of the rare items that were recently sold on the site:

• A strand of Napoleon's hair
• A Tyrannosaurus rex jaw
• The first Tintin comic
• AJaguar E-Type convertible
• A bottle of 1975 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

Catawiki announced, along with its funding, that it has seen revenue increase by 300% in the last year, and that it is now selling 15,000 lots every week. It declined to share information about its valuation or revenue. Lead Edge Capital operating partner Lorrie Norrington will become an advisor to the business as part of the deal. The company previously raised a €10 million Series B round in September 2014.

The new funding makes Catawiki one of the best-known startups in Holland. Other successful tech companies in the country include Blendle, which lets readers pay per magazine article, and Silk, which lets users create visualisations of data.