Estonian Yaga raises €4M

Yaga, an Estonian online marketplace for used fashion, has raised €4M in a Series A funding to explore opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Tallinn-based Specialist VC led the round. Other participants in the deal included Sweden's H&M Group, Estonia's Trind Ventures, Startup Wise Guys and a group of business angels.

Yaga, makes it easy for people to buy and sell used fashion. The startup was founded in 2017 by Aune Aunapuu.

Founded in Tallinn in 2017, Specialist VC is a venture capital firm that supports companies from the Baltic region, Finland, and Ukraine. In early 2022, Specialist VC launched a new €50M fund, supported by the Estonian LHV pension fund and the European Investment Fund through the European Guarantee Fund and the Baltic Innovation Fund 2. Specialist VC's partners are Kaspar Hanni, Riivo Anton, Tõnu Esko and Gerri Kodres.

Trind Ventures is an early-stage venture company established by Joel Aasmäe, Ivar Siimar, Kimmo Irpola, and Taavi Lepmets in 1999. In September 2022 the company closed Fund II with a capital of €55M. It aims to invest in 30–40 startups in four years. The fund is backed by institutional investors such as European Investment Fund, Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment), LHV Pension Funds, and Swedbank Investment Funds. Fund II has already invested in Barcelona-based event management software Xceed, Estonian platform for buying and selling second-hand fashion goods Yaga, and Spanish home services marketplace Webel. The initial ticket is €100K-€1M.

Launched in 2012, Estonian Startup Wise Guys is an accelerator that invests in early-stage startups from Central European and Nordic regions