Born in the Netherlands, Thomas Plantenga earned a Master's in Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. Plantenga honed his marketplace turnaround skills as an operator, working across global marketplaces in Latin America and the Middle East.
In 2016, Lithuanian startup Vinted was burning cash rapidly and was weeks away from closing down. Investor Insight Partners brought in Plantenga as a temporary consultant. Plantenga enacted radical, counter-intuitive changes: he shut down four of Vinted's international offices, eliminated seller fees entirely, and instituted a buyer protection fee instead.
The turnaround was instantaneous: user retention exploded and Vinted turned cash-flow positive. Plantenga was named CEO, steering Vinted's unstoppable conquest across France, Germany, the UK, and southern Europe. In 2024, Vinted completed a secondary share sale valuing the company at €5 billion ($5.4B), turning second-hand fashion into mainstream European culture.
