The zero-effort and eco-friendly repairs marketplace Tingit raises €500K in a pre-seed funding round.
Firstpick, a Lithuanian venture capital fund and accelerator for tech startups in the Baltics, led the investment, with participation from BADideas.fund, PurposeTech, and Heartfelt Capital.
With the additional money, Tingit intends to introduce the Service Provider Gateway, allowing any repair specialist to independently market their services on the site. Any brand, e-commerce site, or marketplace will be able to seamlessly integrate a repair service into its operations by plugging Tingit’s repairs network into its websites using an upcoming API. Following a prosperous launch in Lithuania, the firm intends to grow internationally and incorporate new sectors like consumer electronics, toys, and sports items.
The software provides a smooth repair experience by matching customers with repair specialists and fully integrating service booking, payment, and shipment within the platform.
Indrė Viltrakytė, co-founder and CEO of Tingit, said:
“We have a large collection of items, and eventually everything breaks. For our belongings to stay in use, they must be maintained. As with brushing your teeth, we want to make repairs so easy that they become a habit.”
Viltrakytė further added:
“The economy of repair is upon us. Recently, brands like Zara and Uniqlo have introduced after-sales repairs. In Europe, there are more than 300K retail clothes stores that will soon follow suit and adopt more environmentally friendly practices. We are dedicated to leading this cultural revolution with Tingit.”
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The CEO sees Tingit as a worldwide marketplace for sustainability in the long run, where customers, repair experts, and brands can come together for hassle-free repairs.
Tingit has already completed over 600 orders and handled over 2,500 repair requests, with many coming from repeat customers. Tingit is unique among repair platforms because of its streamlined procedure.
Tadas Maslauskas, co-founder and CTO of Tingit, stated:
“After users upload a brief video, we offer an estimate for the best-customized repair services for that particular item. As many customers are unsure of what can be repaired, we eliminate the headache of having to choose a service upfront. Tadas oversaw engineering teams at Kilo Health, the second-fastest-growing company in Europe, before joining Tingit.”
Venture capitalists (VCs) prefer tech-driven companies that increase product longevity and enable customers to make cost savings. Vinted, the first unicorn in Lithuania is an online second-hand clothing store that has grown to be the leading C2C marketplace in Europe. Its 105 million registered users and nearly €600 million in income in 2023 demonstrated the need for sustainable consumerism.
Firstpick’s managing partner, Jonė Vaitulevičiūtė, added:
“There is still a void of knowledge when it comes to leveraging technology to enhance sustainability. We are eager to see how Tingit informs users and helps them build sustainable habits.”
Every year, the world generates 92 million tons of textile waste, as people wear most items only seven to ten times before discarding them. Saving these garments from landfills offers a major commercial opportunity. By 2030, circular business models could capture 23% of the global fashion market, potentially exceeding $700 billion in value.
