Vinted

Vinted is a peer-to-peer marketplace to sell, buy and swap clothes.[1][2] It allows members to communicate directly and has the features of a social networking service.[1][3] As of December 2015, it had 11 million members, mostly between the ages of 14 and 25, on its free iOS and Android apps.[4][5] It also reported a total of 22.3 million listings in December 2015.[6] The company defines its mission to be “making second hand clothing the first choice worldwide”,[7] its services are available in the United States on Vinted.com, the United Kingdom on Vinted.co.uk, Germany on Kleiderkreisel.de, France on Vinted.fr, Austria on Kleiderkreisel.at, Poland on Vinted.pl, Czech Republic on Vinted.cz, and Lithuania on Vinted.lt.[3][8] The company is based in Vilnius, Lithuania.

How it works

To sell on Vinted, members take a picture of an item, write a description and set a price.[2][3] The item is then put into Vinted’s feed.[2] The app has messaging features for buyers and sellers to communicate about purchases. Buyers pay inside the app and Vinted holds their money until the item is received.[3]

History

Vinted was founded by Justas Janauskas and Milda Mitkutė in 2008.[9][10] Initially, it was a website where girls could swap or sell mid-priced clothes.[1] Vinted grew its European presence after an investment from Lithuanian serial entrepreneur Mantas Mikuckas.[1]

In 2013 it raised $6.6 million from Accel Partners in Series A funding.[11] Vinted used the funds to move from a web-based application to a service primarily for mobile devices and reported in January 2014 that 75 percent of its business happened on mobile.[1][3]

In January 2014 Vinted raised a further $27 million from Accel Partners and Insight Venture Partners in its Series B round that was one of the largest rounds ever for a Baltic-based startup.[1] In February 2014 its €80 million pre-money valuation made Vinted the highest-valued startup in the Baltics.[2]

Vinted partnered with Facebook for the launch of Facebook’s in-app mobile ad network, announced in April 2014.[12]

It announced a new investment round led by Hubert Burda Media in December 2015.[4] The latest round C of $27 million will fuel Vinted’s expansion in new markets.[6]The company also reported it partners with American hip-hop producer Che Pope, who is at Vinted in an advisory capacity on celebrity influencer marketing. [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Euro Secondhand Marketplace Vinted Raises $27M To Take On The Salvation Army, TechCrunch
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Lithuania's Vinted Becomes Highest Valued Baltic Startup with new €20m B-Round", ArcticStartup
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Vinted’s mobile app turns your unwanted clothing into cash", VentureBeat
  4. 1 2 "German Media Billionaire Hops On Lithuania Start-up Bandwagon In $27 Million Deal", Forbes
  5. ↑ "How to look great on a student budget", The Guardian
  6. 1 2 "Vinted Rounds Up $27M for Used-Goods Marketplace", Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
  7. ↑ "Vinted: A Peer-to-Peer Marketplace for Fashion", CouponsDaily.com
  8. ↑ "Give Old Clothes New Life with Vinted", Monmouth University
  9. ↑ "Lietuvių „Vinted“ sėkmė: investuotojai atsirado patys", Ekonomika.lt
  10. ↑ "Vinted secures $27 million in Series B funding from Insight and Accel", Fashionmag.com
  11. ↑ "Vinted raises $27M in a Series B round", Inventures.eu
  12. ↑ "With Ad Network, Facebook Targets Rest of Mobile World", Advertising Age
  13. ↑ "Why Kanye West's Record Label Chief Is Investing In This Lithuanian Start-Up", Forbes

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.