Vinted

Is Vinted a publicly traded company?
No, Vinted is a private company and is not publicly traded on any stock exchange. The company is owned by its founders, employees, and institutional investors. In April 2026, Vinted completed a secondary share transaction of 880 million euros at an equity valuation of 8 billion euros, with investors including EQT, Schroders Capital, BlackRock, and Teachers' Venture Growth. Executives have hinted at a potential IPO but have not given a timeline.

Who founded Vinted?
Vinted was founded in 2008 by Justas Janauskas and Vytautas Ziura in Vilnius, Lithuania. The founders created the platform to address the lack of accessible online marketplaces for secondhand fashion in Europe. Vinted became Lithuania's first unicorn startup in 2019 when it was valued at approximately 1 billion euros.

Where is Vinted headquartered?
Vinted is headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the company was founded. The company operates regional offices in London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, and New York. Its technology infrastructure and customer support teams are distributed across these locations.

How many countries does Vinted operate in?
Vinted operates in 26 countries. In 2025, the company launched in Estonia, Latvia, and Slovenia. In January 2026, Vinted launched in the United States, its first market outside Europe. France and the United Kingdom are the company's largest markets.

What is Vinted's business model?
Vinted operates a peer-to-peer (C2C) marketplace where individuals buy and sell secondhand items. The company generates revenue through transaction fees, buyer protection fees, premium features, and its shipping (Vinted Go) and payments (Vinted Pay) services. Approximately 99 percent of Vinted's users are private individuals selling goods already in circulation. The company does not introduce new products, set prices, or hold inventory.

What is Vinted's valuation?
In April 2026, Vinted completed a secondary share transaction valuing the company at 8 billion euros (approximately $9 billion). The transaction was led by existing investor EQT, with new investors including Schroders Capital, Teachers' Venture Growth, BlackRock, Lombard Odier, and Pinegrove Opportunity Partners. The company was previously valued at approximately 5 billion euros in 2024.

Vinted was founded in 2008 by Justas Janauskas and Vytautas Ziura in Vilnius, Lithuania. The founders created the platform to address the lack of accessible online marketplaces for secondhand fashion in Europe. The initial focus was on creating a user-friendly platform where individuals could buy and sell pre-owned clothing.

In its early years, Vinted expanded across Europe, establishing operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Spain. The platform gained traction as environmental consciousness and interest in sustainable shopping grew among European consumers. By the 2010s, Vinted had become one of the leading secondhand fashion marketplaces in Europe.

The company secured multiple rounds of venture capital funding to support its growth. Key investors included Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Accel, and EQT. These funding rounds enabled Vinted to invest in platform improvements, expand its team, and enter new markets. In 2019, the company raised 128 million euros in a funding round that valued it at approximately 1 billion euros, giving it unicorn status as Lithuania's first unicorn startup.

In 2020, Thomas Plantenga took over as CEO of Vinted Group. Under his leadership, the company shifted its strategic focus toward profitability and operational efficiency. The platform expanded its category offerings beyond fashion to include electronics, homeware, collectibles, and sports equipment. The company also began building out its logistics and payments infrastructure through Vinted Go and Vinted Pay.

Vinted first reported a profit in 2024, with net profit of 77 million euros on revenue of 813 million euros. This was a significant milestone for a company that had been focused on growth for over a decade.

In 2025, Vinted launched in three new European markets (Estonia, Latvia, and Slovenia) and expanded its marketplace categories to include collectibles, sports equipment, and electronics. The company also expanded Vinted Go carrier services to Portugal and Spain and introduced the Vinted Pay wallet.

In January 2026, Vinted launched in the United States, its first market outside Europe. CEO Thomas Plantenga told the Wall Street Journal that the company would pour tens of millions of dollars into U.S. expansion, including boosting sales channels and brand presence. Marketplace CEO Adam Jay said at London Tech Week in June 2026 that the U.S. represents an "enormous opportunity" but cautioned that success could take "weeks, months, and maybe years."

In April 2026, Vinted completed a secondary share transaction of 880 million euros at an equity valuation of 8 billion euros (approximately $9 billion). The transaction was led by existing investor EQT, with new investors Schroders Capital, Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG), BlackRock, Lombard Odier, and Pinegrove Opportunity Partners. Existing shareholder Baillie Gifford increased its position. The company did not raise new primary capital in the transaction.

Vinted's core business model is inherently sustainability-oriented. The platform facilitates the resale of secondhand goods, extending the life cycle of products that would otherwise be discarded. Approximately 99 percent of Vinted's users are private individuals selling goods already circulating in the market. The company does not introduce new products, set prices, or hold inventory.

At a European Parliament hearing in May 2026, Vinted's Vice President for Corporate Affairs Jessie de la Merced described the company as "a European second-hand marketplace" operating primarily as a peer-to-peer platform. She stated that the company "does not introduce new products into the market" and "helps extend the life of goods that already exist." The European Commission acknowledged that EU marketplaces, particularly second-hand platforms, can contribute to sustainability objectives, consumer welfare, and local economic resilience.

Vinted is not a Certified B Corporation. The company publishes sustainability information through its corporate website and annual results announcements.

The company has argued that regulatory approaches should distinguish between secondhand marketplaces and traditional retailers or large-scale import platforms. Vinted has warned that requirements that do not reflect the nature of peer-to-peer secondhand sales risk "excluding legitimate second-hand goods from the market without improving safety outcomes."

Vinted has faced several regulatory and public scrutiny challenges in 2025 and 2026.

In November 2025, France's child protection agency chief Sarah El Hairy asked the French TV and internet regulator Arcom to investigate Vinted for allegedly failing to prevent minors from accessing adult content. The investigation was prompted by findings that some classified ads on the platform redirected users, including underage ones, to websites with pornographic content. Vinted responded that it has a zero-tolerance policy on unsolicited sexual communication, promotion of sexual services, or nude images, and that it takes action against such listings as soon as it becomes aware of them.

In June and July 2026, viral claims circulated on TikTok and Reddit alleging that children were being sold through coded advertisements on Vinted. The claims, driven by screenshots of unusual listings with inflated prices and coded descriptions, were viewed by millions. Germany's Hessian State Criminal Police Office (HLKA) assessed the reports and found "no reliable evidence linking the listings to child or human trafficking." Police noted that many reported listings appeared to be fake. France's Interior Ministry confirmed that prosecutors in Nanterre opened a preliminary investigation. Vinted stated that it had "thoroughly investigated" the listings and found "no credible cases linking them to child trafficking activity." Similar claims had circulated in France in 2023 and were described by the organization Conspiracy Watch as a conspiracy theory.

In early 2026, MEP Dirk Gotink raised a question in the European Parliament about counterfeit fast fashion items from Chinese platforms like Shein being sold as "second-hand designer clothing" on Vinted. The investigation by a Dutch newspaper revealed that sellers were deceiving buyers by listing new counterfeit items as second-hand, removing original labels, and using AI-generated images. The European Commission acknowledged that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive applies only to business-to-consumer transactions and does not cover consumer-to-consumer transactions. The Digital Services Act also does not allow direct intervention because Vinted is not classified as a "very large online platform." Supervision remains with Lithuania, where the platform is based.

In May 2026, Vinted appeared before the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) alongside Dutch-Belgian retailer Bol. Vinted argued that lawmakers should not treat secondhand marketplaces the same way as traditional retailers or large import platforms. The company warned that regulatory approaches that treat intermediary marketplaces like manufacturers or large-scale importers risk harming circular-economy activities.

The EU's DAC7 directive requires platforms including Vinted to report user data to tax authorities when certain activity thresholds are exceeded. Reporting is triggered beyond 30 transactions or 2,000 euros of annual earnings. This has ended anonymity in online sales and allows tax authorities to cross-check data and identify potential irregularities.