Finnish recommerce startup Bought is taking on resale giant Vinted with a bold plan to unlock the $2 trillion worth of unused clothing sitting idle in wardrobes worldwide. The company just secured $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Lifeline Ventures, renowned for backing successes like Wolt, Oura, and Swappie.
This marks one of Finland’s largest pre-seed rounds for a startup founded by a team all under 30. Among the notable investors are top consumer tech leaders, including Wolt COO Marianne Vikkula, Swappie founder Sami Marttinen, Bolt investor Mikko Silventola, and early Wolt backer Pii Ketvel. The round also attracted sustainability-focused angels Annika Sjöberg and Anniina Sulku.
Reviving Zadaa: Bought’s Early-Stage Acquisition Strengthens Nordic Expansion
As part of its launch strategy, Bought has acquired Zadaa — one of the first mobile secondhand marketplaces in the Nordics. Zadaa, which previously raised $11 million, operated across Finland, Denmark, and Germany and built a user base of 500,000. Bought now seamlessly integrates Zadaa’s listings and profiles into its app, enabling users to continue their resale journey with just a few clicks.
Bought’s co-founder and CEO, Erik Kymäläinen, said, “Zadaa shaped the Nordic secondhand scene. A decade ago, it introduced half a million Finns to peer-to-peer fashion resale. We saw the perfect opportunity to combine Bought’s technology with Zadaa’s community to drive the next chapter of growth.”
From Frustration to Innovation: How Bought’s Founders Reimagined Resale
The idea for Bought was born from the founders’ own frustrations with selling secondhand. Longtime secondhand enthusiasts, co-founders Olli Warro and Anna Müller found existing resale platforms cumbersome. Warro previously co-founded Medified, later acquired by Swedish healthtech firm Mindler, while Müller was behind the goFika app. Kymäläinen led Europe’s largest student-run VC fund, Wave Ventures, until 2024.
“For years, I’ve bought almost everything secondhand, yet selling has always felt like a hassle,” Kymäläinen shared. “I knew I couldn’t be alone. That realization sparked Bought — a way to finally make reselling simple.”
Shifting the Secondhand Market Focus: Solving the Supply Problem
While platforms like Vinted dominate Europe’s secondhand market with over 65 million users and a $5 billion valuation, Bought is betting on a different approach — fixing the supply bottleneck. Despite surging demand, only 5% of resellable fashion ever reaches marketplaces. That leaves roughly $2 trillion in unused clothing collecting dust.
With the global secondhand apparel market projected to hit $350 billion by 2027 — growing three times faster than the broader fashion industry — Bought’s timing couldn’t be better.
Kymäläinen summed it up: “The platform that cracks everyday sellers — not just power users — will win this market. That’s our mission.”
AI-Powered Listings: How Bought Transforms Emails into Instant Resale Opportunities
At the core of Bought’s strategy is a simple, game-changing idea: your email holds the key to effortless resale. The app uses AI to scan online shopping receipts buried in users’ inboxes, automatically creating ready-to-sell listings — no photos, no measurements, no descriptions needed.
“Every online purchase leaves a trail in your email. That’s enough data to generate a sales listing,” Kymäläinen explained. “Traditionally, reselling is tedious. You dig out the item, check its condition, snap photos, write descriptions — and that’s just to list it. Bought automates the entire process. You can resell your entire online shopping history without leaving your couch.”
For items not found in email records, Bought offers AI-assisted manual listing — users simply snap a photo, and the app handles the rest. “Our slogan, ‘Secondhand Automated,’ means we’re streamlining every part of the process,” Kymäläinen added.
Reducing Fashion’s Carbon Footprint — One Automated Listing at a Time
Beyond convenience, Bought aims to deliver environmental impact. Each resold garment saves an average of 5.7 kg of CO2 emissions compared to buying new. If Bought helps unlock just 10% of that trapped $2 trillion in unused clothing, the environmental gains could be massive — preventing millions of tons of carbon emissions.
As Kymäläinen put it, “We’re not just helping people clear their closets. We’re making recommerce effortless and sustainable.”
