Lithuanian unicorn Vinted raises €250M in Series F round led by EQT Growth; now valued at €3.5B

Lithuania-based Vinted, a consumer-to-consumer second-hand fashion platform, has raised €250M in its Series F round of funding at a pre-money valuation of €3.5B. The round was led by EQT Growth. The online retailer works with the mission to make second-hand fashion the prime choice worldwide. The current transaction is expected to close in May 2021.

The company achieved its unicorn status back in November 2019 when Lightspeed Venture Partners led a €128M funding round to value the company over €1B. The round was joined in by existing backers including Sprints Capital, Insight Venture Partners, Accel, and Burda Principal Investments.

Other investors in this round

Besides EQT Growth, the round also saw participation from existing investors including Accel, Burda Principal Investments, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sprints Capital.

Following the investment, Carolina Brochado, Partner at EQT Growth will be joining Vinted’s board. Says, “Vinted is transforming the second-hand fashion market across Europe through their customer-centric approach and extraordinary execution.”

How was Vinted born?

The company was founded in 2008 in Lithuania by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas, confronting an increasingly common problem in modern Europe – wardrobe overload. It is a simple story, Milda was moving house and had too many clothes to take with her. Justas offered to help and decided to build a website with Milda, to help her give away her clothes. And this is how Vinted came into being. The platform quickly became a success and grew organically, at first, without any marketing.

And, in 2011, Mantas Mikuckas joined as the first investor and COO, and seized the opportunity to expand the business to international markets. And currently, Vinted claims to be the largest online international C2C marketplace in Europe dedicated to second-hand fashion. Currently, Vinted is led by CEO Thomas Plantenga.

With a mission to make second-hand the first choice worldwide, Vinted helps members sell and buy second-hand clothes and accessories from each other, making shopping a mobile and social experience through one-on-one member interactions in its community. 

The company has a member base of over 45 million users in 13 markets including France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg, UK, and the US. The startup is headquartered in Vilnius, with offices in Berlin, Utrecht and Prague and has over 700 employees.

In line with the commitment to invest in sustainable businesses, Vinted aims to enable consumers to sell and buy second-hand clothing and other items, and in the process reduce unnecessary production and promote innovation. Vinted contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) #9, #12 and #15.

Back in October 2020, Vinted acquired Netherlands-based United Wardrobe, a platform where you can buy and sell fashion and vintage items. Prior to that in October 2019, the company had acquired Madrid-based Chicfy – an online marketplace to buy, share, and sell fashion clothes.

Capital utilisation

According to the company, the raised capital will help Vinted to expand into new markets, both within European borders and beyond, as well as improve the overall buyer experience.

Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted, says, “We are contributing to a seismic shift in the second-hand fashion market, enabling more sustainable, socially-responsible shopping habits. We will continue investing to improve not only our product, but also to ensure we continue having a positive impact. We believe today’s milestone is a vote of confidence in our commitment to the circular economy and our relentless effort to build a business that encourages more people to buy and sell second-hand.”