BurdaPrincipal Investments (BPI), the international growth capital provider of media and technology company Hubert Burda Media, is participating in Aleph Alpha’s Series B financing round.
The two Vinted platforms created by Vinted, Kleiderkreisel and Mamikreisel, are to be merged into one big fashion community with even more to offer. This isn’t the only milestone for Vinted, which recently expanded into the Netherlands. Burda has been a Vinted investor since 2015.
Gender-neutral rebranding
Kleiderkreisel (founded 2009) and Mamikreisel (2012) currently have more than 8.5 million members combined. Vinted, Europe’s largest international online marketplace for second-hand fashion and part of the BurdaPrincipal Investments' portfolio, is now set to merge these platforms, offering users more services in one place and allowing them to sell to more potential customers. This also means that the previous platform names will no longer be used – in the future, all activities will be bundled under the neutral name Vinted, allowing all members to access all categories.
Two become one
Users will see no change in design or usability – the updated Vinted app will keep the current interface and the familiar (filter) functions will also be retained. In the upcoming weeks, members of Kleiderkreisel and Mamikreisel will be invited to move their accounts to the shared Vinted platform – due to high membership numbers, this will be carried out gradually.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve our community’s experiences. By taking this step, we will be able to offer our members all our services together in one place: second-hand clothing, accessories and shoes for our members and their families. We are also adding a ‘Home’ category for home textiles and smaller decorative items.”
Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted
This means that members will be able to use one platform to meet their various needs, rather than switching between platforms.
Expanding into the Netherlands
Members of United Wardrobe will need to switch, albeit indirectly. The largest platform for second-hand fashion in the Netherlands has recently been acquired by Vinted. United Wardrobe was set up in 2014 by three Dutch students at Wageningen University and has already expanded into Belgium, France and Germany. Together, the companies plan to ramp up their European growth and raise awareness of sustainable fashion. United Wardrobe will be integrated into Vinted but will remain based in Utrecht. With a shared membership base of around 34 million buyers and sellers in 11 European countries, Vinted and United Wardrobe have a vision to make second-hand fashion the first choice worldwide.
Successful company
Vinted was founded 12 years ago in Lithuania – today the company is active in 12 global markets, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. In November 2019, Vinted completed a Series E funding round, reaching a value of over EUR 1 billion.
