Fleek raises $25m to build the AI infrastructure behind global secondhand fashion

What happened

London-based startup Fleek raised $25 million in a Series B funding round to expand its AI platform that supports the global secondhand fashion market. The investment brings Fleek’s total funding to $45 million. The financing round was led by Burda Principal Investments, a firm known for backing Vinted, a major secondhand clothing marketplace. Fleek’s software uses artificial intelligence to automate sorting, grading, and pricing of used clothes.

Why it matters

Fleek’s AI tackles a core operational challenge in secondhand fashion: accurately assessing garment quality and value at scale. Manual sorting and pricing remain costly and error-prone, creating inefficiencies and inconsistent experiences for buyers and sellers. By automating these processes with AI, Fleek aims to reduce costs and speed up inventory turnover for secondhand platforms, which face growing demand. This can lower barriers for resale businesses to enter the market and improve margins. For consumers, enhanced consistency in grading and pricing could increase trust in buying used clothing online.

What to watch next

The key test for Fleek will be how effectively its AI scales with new clients and larger inventories without sacrificing accuracy. Watch for how it integrates with large-secondhand marketplaces or retailers expanding into resale to see if the AI can handle diverse brands and garment types. Follow Burda’s involvement as an indicator of wider investor interest in technology breathing new efficiency into circular fashion. If Fleek’s model proves reliable, it could pressure legacy resale operators to adopt AI or lose competitiveness.

AI Quick Briefs Editorial Desk