EXCLUSIVE: Giftd App Raises Angel Round to Help Brands Spin Unsold Stock Into Marketing Gold
PARIS — Berlin-based app Giftd raised an angel round of 535,000 euros to further develop its platform, which helps brands move their unsold merchandise through marketing giveaways.
Strategic impact investor Thies Network, Berlin Business Angels Club board member QuantumReality and accelerator Ultra.Vc joined the round, alongside Maciej Ga?kiewicz, chief executive officer of pre-seed tech investor Ragnarson.
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Giftd’s value proposition is twofold, said founder Hannah Kromminga. It helps brands and retailers offload their unsold stock while using the merchandise as a low-cost acquisition tool to strengthen existing relationships with brand fans, as well as acquire new customers.
“There’s 30 percent of residual stock that brands don’t know what to do with across the industry on average,” said Kromminga, a long-time tech entrepreneur and cofounder of the Greentech Alliance.
The industry is increasingly facing a volume problem. As new European Union regulations ban companies from destroying unsold apparel, clothing and footwear products, brands need to find a new channel for the anticipated glut of goods.
Traditional channels of sending to markets in the Global South or donating to charity are becoming more difficult for brands, both logistically and from a PR perspective. The app aims to offer a “zero-waste solution” to offload the excess stock that has previously failed to move through all existing channels, while spinning it into marketing gold.
The idea for the platform came through Kromminga’s work with Fabletics, which approached her when she was working in the secondhand clothing space. The activewear brand was looking for a way to disperse its residual stock after a sample sale.
The team developed a loyalty campaign around the Fabletics merch, and further expanded into the idea of Giftd.
Giftd launched in Germany in June, and now has three brands on board, including Fabletics, S. Oliver’s handbag brand Liebeskind Berlin and streetwear label Irie Daily. Five large fashion brands are currently in the testing phase.
Following the fundraising round, Giftd aims to roll out in additional European countries and the U.K. in 2025.
With premium brands warehousing millions of items per year, Giftd aims to be a new channel.
“What we want to achieve is to become the go-to solution that sits between the clearance channels that the brand owns, and those other practices, and offer an opportunity to get rid of the stock in a way that still creates value for the brand,” said Kromminga.