Minimist: The AI-Driven Startup Revolutionizing Second-Hand Commerce

Over the next few weeks we will highlight some startups of this year's Climate Launchpad Austria cohort. This week, we introduce Minimist, a sustainable startup that’s rethinking how we buy and sell second-hand goods. By using AI technology, they’ve created a platform that automates the resale process, helping sellers list items across multiple marketplaces in under 30 seconds. Their mission: to make circular commerce the default. 

We asked the Minimist team to tell us more about their work, their impact, and what’s ahead.

Minimist Founders

Who are you, and what does your startup do?

Minimist: We are Minimist, an impact-driven startup making second-hand commerce as effortless and scalable as buying new. Our platform uses AI to radically simplify the secondhand selling process, enabling sellers to list any item across multiple marketplaces in under 30 seconds. Through our co-pilot technology, we extract data from images (and soon voice), automate crosslisting to multiple marketplaces, pricing, and communication, and provide ecommerce backends to amplify reach. We serve professional sellers first, aiming to make circular commerce mainstream. 

Client using Minimist

What problem are you solving, and why does it matter for a sustainable future?

Minimist: Despite its environmental and financial benefits, second-hand retail remains fragmented and inaccessible, with 93% of potential items unsold because digitization is too hard and time- consuming. Manual listing, pricing, and negotiating can take up to 30 minutes per item, discouraging individual and professional sellers alike. This inefficiency is not just an economic loss - it’s a barrier to scaling the circular economy. By automating resale workflows, we unlock the dormant supply of second-hand goods, reduce waste, and create a scalable system for reuse. For a sustainable future, making second-hand the default choice is critical - and we’re building the tech to make that possible.

What does your business model look like?

Minimist: Minimist operates on a commission-based model, along with offering software subscriptions. We provide sellers with a co-pilot AI that instantly extracts metadata from photos, lists products on more than five platforms - including those without APIs, such as Vinted - and optimizes listings for SEO and buyer engagement. Our systems are designed for scalability and include a proprietary agentic listing engine for automation, a crosslisting backend tailored to B2B clients, and aggregation infrastructure that will enable us to evolve into a true “marketplace of marketplaces.”

Minimist Website and App

Where are you currently – and what are your next steps?

Minimist: Since founding Minimist in 2024, we’ve already made significant process. At present, we have achieved 15 paying customers, with an additional five deals in the pipeline. Our platform hosts a catalogue of more than 760,000 second-hand items, and our AI tools enable a 48 % faster sell-through rate compared to traditional methods. Also, we are currently running pilot programs with 550 consumers. After closing our €650,000 pre-seed round in May, we will expand our team to eight full-time employees, and continue refining our technology. In Q3 of this year, we plan to launch our advanced crosslisting feature specifically for professional sellers. By Q4, we aim to optimize our agent to handle 50 % of human resale tasks on the leading European marketplaces.

Any advice for other founders in sustainability?

Minimist: Don’t just talk about impact, but build systems that scale it. Sustainable solutions must be frictionless, economically viable, and tech-enabled to compete with the convenience of traditional consumption. Focus on the infrastructure problems behind sustainability and solve those with intelligence and empathy. Also, start with a wedge: we began B2B not because it’s easier, but because it’s how we build the tools that will power broader behavior change.

Scaling Sustainability with Smart Tech: Why Minimist Matters

Minimist shows that sustainable innovation isn’t just about impact but about building the systems to scale it. Their use of AI in resale, combined with a clear focus on solving infrastructure bottlenecks in the second-hand economy, makes them a standout in the space.

Come back for more stories from the Climate Launchpad community next week, where the future of green entrepreneurship is being built - one smart solution at a time.

Fotocredits: Minimist

Written by Anna Nägele