eBay Ventures—venture capital arm of global marketplace for pre-loved fashion, eBay—has awarded Refiberd USD$300,000 investment, crowning them eBay’s Circular Fashion Innovator of the Year. The fund is designed to help fashion start-ups scale circular solutions, from production to end-of-life, including rental and repair services.
eBay invests $300k in Refiberd to drive circular fashion solutions
Since it launched in the UK in 2022, the Circular Fashion Fund has helped 15 businesses scale their circular solutions, including The Seam, which allows businesses to offer garment care and repair services, and RCYCL, creators of the at-home fashion recycling program. As part of eBay’s commitment to the circular economy, the global expansion of the Circular Fashion Fund extends its reach to invest in businesses that bring new technology and services to the market.
The Circular Fashion Fund sees eBay partner with the fashion industry’s foremost councils—British Fashion Council, Council of Fashion Designers of America, Fashion Council Germany and Australia Fashion Council—giving recipients access and visibility to propel their business’s growth. Since the Circular Fashion Fund’s launch in 2022, eBay has supported twenty-seven businesses and by the end of 2025 will have invested a total of $1.2 million alongside 200+ hours of mentoring and up-skilling from industry experts.
“The Circular Fashion Fund is a catalyst for collaboration by combining the global scale and power of established companies like eBay with the creativity and innovation of nimble start-ups,” said Kirsty Keoghan, Global GM of Fashion at eBay. “We’re not only helping to scale circular solutions but also bringing together the most knowledgeable and respected experts in the industry. Together, we’re making a positive impact on the circular economy and truly reshaping the future of fashion.”
“As the pioneering secondary marketplace, eBay has been driving circularity in fashion since its inception 30 years ago,” said Alexis Hoopes, VP Global Head of Fashion at eBay. “It’s a critical time for the fashion industry and eBay’s Circular Fashion Fund—and the eBay platform at-large—are propelling the industry forward, enabling innovative ideas to help shape brand and consumer behaviours.”
Refiberd was announced the winner of eBay’s Circular Fashion Innovator of the Year Award. This funding is aimed to scale Refiberd’s AI system that discerns what different fabrics are made of, allowing them to be accurately sorted and recycled. Their technology can be integrated into recycling infrastructures to sort materials and ensure they’re processed using the right methods—helping recyclers turn textile waste into new fibers. By enabling efficient recycling, Refiberd aims to drive true circularity in fashion.
“We’re honoured to win eBay’s first Circular Fashion Innovator of the Year Award. The investment from eBay Ventures will help us close a significant round of fundraising for the business, allowing us to expand our technology to new recycling partners, strengthen our AI capabilities, and move faster toward our mission of enabling true textile-to-textile recycling”, said Sarika Bajaj, co-founder and CEO of Refiberd. “The journey for a startup is tough, so having the mentorship and access to eBay and the CFDA’s networks has already proven invaluable. With this added support we can accelerate our impact and help build a future where circular fashion is the norm—not the exception.”
About eBay
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, California, eBay is one of the world’s largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection. eBay creates inspiring e-commerce experiences for their buyers, sellers and developers. Embracing innovation has been a cornerstone of their growth, integrating technologies such as AI, computer vision, natural language processing and machine translation.
“eBay achieved three consecutive quarters of GMV growth to end 2024, and we took significant steps toward our vision of reinventing the future of e-commerces for enthusiasts,” said Jamie Iannone, CEO at eBay. “I’m proud of how the team has innovated for our buyers and sellers, which has driven significant value for shareholders.”
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
