Minimist secures €1M to digitise the world’s charity shops
The global secondhand market is booming, yet 93% of unique used items never make it online. While fast-fashion brands upload thousands of new products daily, charity shops and vintage retailers are held back by a manual bottleneck: the time-consuming task of photographing, describing, and pricing millions of one-off items.
Minimist, a startup working across the EU and UK, has secured a €1M investment to fix this. The AI-powered listing engine allows a single staff member or volunteer to convert one product photo into a complete, marketplace-ready listing in under 30 seconds, publishing simultaneously to channels like eBay, Depop, or Shopify.
From backroom to browser
In the UK alone, over 11,000 charity shops raise approximately £363 million annually for crucial causes and frontline services. However, many donations stay hidden in backrooms because the cost of listing them online often outweighs the potential profit. By removing this digital barrier, the opportunity to grow the funds raised from retail operations could change the lives of thousands of people supported by these charities.
"We are giving the most beloved charities the same digital weapons as fast-fashion giants," says Stephan Hofmann, CEO of Minimist. "Our goal is to help these shops reach tens of thousands of new customers, ensuring that every donated item generates the maximum possible funds for those in need."
Minimist says the €1M investment will help fast-track new AI-powered tools that help secondhand listings not only compete, but outperform new goods in online marketplaces.
Beyond speed, the technology startup is tackling the two biggest hurdles in online resale: size and presentation. “A huge pain for online secondhand sellers is that customers frequently return items that don’t fit.” - Stephan Hofmann, CEO of Minimist
New AI tools currently in development will automatically detect and measure the size of “one of one” items, providing the precision needed to reduce the high return rates that frequently plague sellers. To further compete with professional fashion photography, the platform offers a "virtual try-on" technology that allows pre-loved garments to be displayed on digital models, helping secondhand goods shine and finally shake off the stigma of being "second best."
Proven impact
The technology is already delivering results for over 15 high-profile customers, with other players like Vision Ireland and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland joining the fold.
- Helen & Douglas House (UK): A charity retailer that quadrupled its online revenue using Minimist. By drastically reducing the cost of listing items, the software helps unlock vital funds for the world’s first children’s hospice.
- Diakonia (DE): One of Germany’s six peak welfare associations (Spitzenverbände der freien Wohlfahrtspflege), which also saw its online revenue quadruple within the first month of implementation, proving the immediate scalability of AI-driven processing.
- VinoKilo (DE/CH): Europe’s largest vintage event host, which utilized the technology to relaunch its digital storefront.
The investment
The round was led by the impact fund Tilia Impact Ventures (with support from InvestEU), with additional backing from notable industry-insider investors and a grant by the Vienna Business Agency.
"We invested because Minimist is addressing a real bottleneck in resale: turning large volumes of unique secondhand items into sellable online inventory," said Andrew Gray, GP at Tilia VC.
"Today, huge amounts of clothing never make it to market simply because the process of processing and listing them is too manual. By removing that friction with AI, Minimist can help extend the life of garments (and more), and reduce waste in a sector that produces over 100 billion items each year."
A big thanks to all our investors, friends, family and the Minimist team who without them, this would not be possible. To a better second hand industry!