Shopping at thrift stores is always a gamble: That cool shirt might fade soon, and you'll never know where those worn-out jeans are. Sure, some stores and websites try to weed out bad products, but with so many options, it's hard to make a good purchase on the internet.
Berlin-based Fairkad has developed a browser extension that aims to solve that exact problem. The company aims to be the discovery layer for second-hand goods and has raised €3 million in a round led by World Fund, with participation from Accel, General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NEA, Northzone, Backbone Ventures, Earlybird and Mink Accelerator.
The idea is pretty simple: the extension uses a combination of image and text matching to suggest second-hand alternatives as you search for products on sites like Amazon, Zalando, and Patagonia.
For example, if you're looking to buy a new iPhone on Amazon, the extension will automatically show you second-hand options from sites like eBay. Currently, Faircado's extension works with electronics, books, and clothing.
The company claims that the extension supports 1,600 sites, including Amazon, Zalando, Patagonia, and Apple, and the recommendations come from over 50 partners, including eBay, Back Market, Grailed, Rebuy, and Vestiaire Collective.
The Faircado extension can be downloaded and used anywhere, but the company is focusing on rolling it out in Germany first, with plans to launch in the UK later this year.
The extension is currently in beta with several thousand users, and while the company wouldn't disclose how much commerce it has facilitated so far, it said the average purchase amount is around 200 euros, with “multiple purchases per user per month.”
Fairkad team. Image courtesy of Fairkad
Faircado was founded in 2022 by Evoléna de Wilde d'Estmael and Ali Nezamolmaleki, who met at Y Combinator-backed AirHelp.
De Wilde Destmar said he came up with the idea for the startup while thinking about how to make it easier to find second-hand goods.
“I'm a fan of second-hand goods. [things] “I've been doing it my whole life, but I was able to convince friends to move away from Amazon, Ikea, and Zara and adopt more sustainable ways of consuming. The experience of searching for second-hand goods is usually time-consuming, inconvenient, and unappealing. We wanted to make the process more accessible,” she told TechCrunch over the phone.
De Wilde Destmaer said the expansion is a step toward directing consumers to more sustainable shopping sources. The company is also looking into developing a native mobile app targeted at its second-hand discovery layer.
Tim Schumacher, a partner at Worldfund, which invests in environmental companies, said decarbonization starts with people buying less new goods, and the fund decided to invest in Faircade because the startup sees a big role in that process.
“Faircade was something we kind of stumbled across. We've been following them since their early days and have seen good progress in the AI space, so we thought it was a great fit to invest in,” he told TechCrunch over the call, adding that the expansion also serves to ease friction caused by changing consumer behavior around buying second-hand goods.
Faircade makes money from affiliate sales and clicks. The company isn’t yet cash-flow positive and wants to focus on growth for now, De Wilde Destmaer said.
The company said it will use the funding to hire developers and marketing staff, aiming to double its current workforce of 10 by the end of the year. Last year, the company hired Oliver Hale, who founded second-hand goods marketplace Buckit, as its chief operating officer.
The startup competes directly with Buoyant Ventures-backed Beni, which offers an expanded feature for shoppers based in the U.S., and Gently, which acts as an aggregator for second-hand clothing, but Faircade is hoping its European positioning will be a key driver of growth.