Lithuanian second-hand marketplace Vinted has reported a leap in revenues and profits for 2024, as the demand for pre-owned goods helps drive the sector globally.
Where younger consumers led, now the use of second-hand marketplaces has expanded geographically and demographically, as shoppers of all ages search for bargains and get the feelgood factor from buying pre-owned goods and giving them a second life.
Vinted has posted a net profit of $87.3 million, up from $20.3 million the prior year, as sales increased by 36% to over $926 million. Adjusted EBITDA also more than doubled to $181 million.
It’s the second year of profits for a business that has helped pioneer the trading of pre-owned products, especially fashion/
Vinted was founded in 2008 in Lithuania when Milda Mitkute, then 22, was at a house party and bumped into Justas Janauskas, an old friend who had programming experience. Mitkute told him that she was moving house and wanted to clear out her closet and two weeks later they had launched a website to sell 100 items of Mitkute’s clothing.
Still headquartered in capital Vilnius, in 2019 it became the country’s first unicorn despite some serious bumps along the road, notably in 2016, and thanks to capital injections from angel investors, and it is now valued at around $5.7 billion and has offices in Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands, with over 2,200 employees.
Over the past year, the group has broadened its category reach thanks to the launch of a second-hand electronics service, allowing users to sell items such as headphones, laptops and fitness trackers, which reflects part of Vinted’s wider ambitions to become a one-stop platform for pre-owned goods.
Vinted Expands Into New Markets
The group also said that Vinted had successfully “deepened the penetration of its marketplace in existing markets”, as well as launching its app in Croatia, Greece and Ireland, bringing its total market to 22 countries. Alongside marketplace growth, the group continued to scale its Vinted Go logistics arm, building on its network in France and the Benelux region offering users low-cost, locker-based and pick-up/drop-off shipping options. The service expanded into Spain and Portugal in late 2024.
In late March this year, Vinted launched a luxury fashion wardrobe online, dubbed ‘House of Vinted’, featuring pieces from fashion creators including Susie Lau, Victoria Magrath, Simran Randhawa, Giulia Valentina and Keiona Revlon.
Vinted also announced in April that it was launching a partnership with English actress Alexa Chung where the style icon will sell luxury fashion pieces from her wardrobe. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Chung’s charity of choice, Endometriosis UK.
Vinted Record Sales
“This performance is the result of our hard work to deliver products that bring high value for members at the lowest possible cost. We do this by having a relentless focus on cost control, building complex infrastructure ourselves, and innovating to bring new services and solutions at scale. It’s this mix of scale, innovation, cost control that helps us succeed,” Vinted Chief Executive Thomas Plantenga said of the results.
“At Vinted, we aim to build an ecosystem of businesses that can change the way society consumes,” he added. “Given the potential size of the market, we know there’s a huge opportunity ahead and lots of work to be done to get there. We see our current position as a solid foundation to build this future on, and we’ll continue to learn and improve. We are at the start of the journey and aiming high.”
To improve transaction ease and security, Vinted Pay — the platform’s integrated payment solution — launched its first services in Lithuania last year and the company said this forms part of its ambition to strengthen its end-to-end ecosystem for buyers and sellers.
Vinted Group has also launched Vinted Ventures, a dedicated investment arm established to back the next generation of startups in re-commerce and second-hand.
Vinted Ventures will target companies at the Series A to C stage, offering funding from $570,000 to $11.4 million, plus an expert advisory network from across the company.
