Bought's founders have long been passionate secondhand consumers, but selling has always felt like a daunting task.

"For the past five years, I have almost exclusively bought secondhand. Yet, no matter the platform, selling has always felt overwhelmingly difficult for me. Eventually, I thought—this can't just be me. There must be a better way. That frustration led to Bought," says Erik Kymäläinen, CEO and co-founder of Bought.

The problem is widespread. Only about 5% of resellable fashion items make it onto current resale platforms. This means an estimated $2 trillion worth of clothing remains unused (and unlisted) in wardrobes worldwide.

"Even though secondhand demand is exploding, active selling is still done by a relatively small user base. The platform that figures out how to get everyday people selling will solve the $2 trillion industry challenge," Kymäläinen predicts.

Bought's solution to resale challenges is email. The app's AI-driven innovation automatically creates sales listings from users' online shopping history. All the user needs to do is enter their email address into the app.

"Bought evolved from the realization that everything we buy online leaves a digital trace in our emails—containing all the necessary details for creating a sales listing," Kymäläinen explains.

This marks a shift from the current norm.

"Traditionally, creating a sales listing is a hassle. You have to dig out the item from your closet, arrange it neatly, photograph it, write a description, check the labels, recall its age, and set a price. Bought's technology does all of this for you. You can list your entire purchase history without getting off your couch," Kymäläinen elaborates.

Beyond email automation, Bought also offers AI-assisted manual listing, where simply taking a photo of the item is enough.

"Our slogan is 'Secondhand Automated,' meaning even manual listing is automated with Bought," Kymäläinen adds.

Bought's founders secured €1.4 million in funding—the largest pre-seed for a Finnish startup founded by a team under 30. The lead investor is venture capital firm Lifeline Ventures, known for backing companies like Wolt, Swappie, and Oura.

The round also includes investments from other key figures in Finland's consumer business sector, such as:

As part of its launch strategy, Bought made an early-stage acquisition. On March 13, the company signed a deal to acquire Zadaa, a pioneering secondhand fashion marketplace in the Nordics.

"Zadaa has had a fantastic journey. A decade ago, it was the first Nordic marketplace app for used fashion, introducing half a million Finns to secondhand and redefining peer-to-peer commerce," says Kymäläinen.

Zadaa raised a total of €10 million in funding and operated in Finland, Denmark, and Germany. Kymäläinen and Zadaa's CEO & founder Iiro Kormi first met in November 2024 to discuss secondhand innovations but soon realized they had a shared vision

"We quickly saw that Bought's innovation and energy were exactly what Zadaa and its 500,000-user community needed. That's how the idea of continuing Zadaa's story within Bought came to life," Kymäläinen adds.

With the acquisition, Zadaa has been integrated into the Bought app. Zadaa users' active listings and profiles can be seamlessly transferred to the new platform with just a few clicks.