Musthad has announced that it has closed a funding round worth one million euros. The lead investors in the round are Alante Capital (USA) and Style IT (Italy), a fashiontech programme run by CDP Venture Capital’s National Accelerator Network, developed in collaboration with Startupbootcamp and Gellify. NextStep (United Kingdom) and Ragnarson (Germany) also participated.
The funds raised will be used to strengthen the team with commercial and technical staff, accelerate product development and support geographical expansion, with the aim of ending 2026 with a turnover double that of 2025.
Every year, around 35% of textile products become waste before they are even sold, resulting in a global loss of over 500 billion dollars. Unsold items, faulty goods, returns and samples remain in warehouses for months, incurring significant hidden costs: prolonged storage, manual labour, tied-up capital and disposal.
Matteo Aghemo, co-founder of Musthad, says in a statement: “We continue to produce as if resources were infinite, whilst every year billions of garments end up in landfill. Giving new life to what already exists is not just an environmental issue; it is the smartest response to a world in which raw materials are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive.”
Musthad reduces these inefficiencies through an automated, data-driven platform that connects brands with a growing ecosystem of over 300 carefully selected circular economy operators worldwide, specialising in recycling, resale, upcycling and donation, whilst tracking supply chains and reporting on impacts in real time.
The start-up already has clients ranging from the mass market to the luxury sector, across several international markets, and estimates that it has enabled them to achieve significant savings during the end-of-life management phase: a 44 per cent reduction in manual labour costs, a 30 per cent reduction in storage costs, and an 18 per cent reduction in disposal costs, amongst others. Companies that have adopted the platform have also ensured regulatory compliance, protected their reputation and, where possible, recovered economic value from waste.
Leslie Harwell, co-founder and general partner at Alante Capital, comments: “Alante Capital is delighted to support the Musthad team in their next phase of growth. Reducing friction in textile recycling and enabling the discovery of recycling and reuse solutions is a crucial element in the transition to a circular economy. With the ESPR regulations providing a tailwind for an already robust business model, we see Musthad as a pragmatic solution for brands, manufacturers and retailers needing to manage their surplus stock, and equally for recyclers and other operators who will give those materials a new lease of life.”
The European regulatory framework is accelerating the transformation of the sector. From 19 July 2026, the ESPR Regulation will introduce a ban on the destruction of unsold stock by fashion brands, with requirements for annual reporting and documentation of the supply chains in place.
Founded in 2021 by Eugenio Riganti and Matteo Aghemo, Musthad’s name encapsulates its mission: it is derived from ‘must-have’, the expression that has fuelled consumption beyond all limits for decades. By changing ‘have’ to ‘had’, the founders sought to signal a paradigm shift – from the desire to possess ever more to the value of re-evaluating what already exists.
Eugenio Riganti (pictured here with Aghemo) concludes: “In a circular fashion market set to generate over 700 billion dollars in value by 2030, our aim is to build the global benchmark infrastructure to make this transition possible, measurable and scalable.”
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