Vinted, UAB Group, commonly known as Vinted, is a Lithuanian online marketplace for buying, selling, and exchanging new or secondhand items.
History
Vinted was co-founded in 2008 by Milda MitkutÄ— and Justas Janauskas in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, Lithuania. MitkutÄ— was moving house and needed a way to sell her surplus clothes. This led to the creation of a website where users could trade their clothing items.
In 2012, Vinted partnered with Lemon Labs, a Lithuanian-based app development consultancy, to launch their mobile app. In 2016, Dutch businessman Thomas Plantenga joined Vinted's management team as a strategy consultant and later became the CEO.
In 2019, Vinted became Lithuania's first tech
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unico ...
, raising €128 million at a €1 billion valuation in a round led by
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed stage, early stage investments and growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed has eleven offices globally and as o ...
. In October 2020, Vinted acquired United Wardrobe, a Dutch competitor. In 2024, Vinted acquired Trendsales, a Danish competitor.
As of June 2024, Vinted operates in twenty-one countries and has more than 65 million registered users. In November 2024, the platform was valued at 5 billion euros.
Controversies
Since 2021, Vinted has been under scrutiny of data protection supervisory authorities (SA) from France, Lithuania and Poland, following numerous complaints about
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), abbreviated GDPR, is a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of ...
violations and contentious user account blocking practices, which resulted in a €2,375,276 fine imposed by the Lithuanian SA in July 2024. The dedicated Vinted working group, consisting of Dutch, French, Lithuanian and Polish SA and supported by the
European Data Protection Board
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) is a European Union independent body with juridical personality whose purpose is to ensure consistent application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to promote cooperation among the EU†...
, became an example of close cross-border cooperation between national supervisory authorities in law enforcement.
In 2024, some new users in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
were subject to fraud schemes in which their bank accounts were emptied. During the first quarter of the year there were about 300 police reports concerning fraud at Vinted. Comparable platforms had fewer police reports which, furthermore, were related to a less serious type of fraud.
In October of 2024,
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
produced a
documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
with
Ellie Flynn looking at the darker usages of Vinted. The show commented on the use of
misogynistic
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...
websites, sexualising young women modelling clothes on Vinted, alongside harmful and derogatory comments. Some of these women being below legal age, and legally still children. The documentary also warns buyers (particularly, new parents) of the dangers of purchasing items without a safety label, or products which you don't know where they originated from. The one-episode documentary also warns of
CBD and similar drug-related products being sold improperly.
See also
*
List of online marketplaces
References
{{reflist
Retail companies established in 2008
Online marketplaces of Lithuania
Companies based in Vilnius
Lithuanian companies established in 2008