The start of vendi: Marketplaces 3.0

In the early 2000s, with the rise of the internet, online marketplaces were born. From originally one-sided marketplaces like Amazon to two sided marketplaces like Ebay, the world’s products started to become accessible not only from retailers but from individuals. Soon after, simpler marketplaces governed by individuals who wanted an easier way to access online platforms to buy and sell form their house started to emerge, like Gumtree.

Then, moving along the 21st century, after the success of smartphones a new wave of marketplaces started to take over: the mobile-first marketplaces. During the early 2010’s from Wallapop to OfferUp or Letgo an even simpler access to these peer-to-peer marketplaces became possible with just a few clicks on the phone. This concept has grown to become the standard nowadays to the point where ease of use has taken over security, reliability and quality. The user base increases, but the lack of innovation and change remains stagnant. It is such that in peer-to-peer marketplaces the amount of frauds is a problem, the amount of time spent searching for what you need due to the lack of structure is a problem, and the amount of unwanted products becomes a problem.

In the last 5 years, vast advancements in AI, specifically in the realm of Machine Learning, have given an opportunity to improve and bring automation to almost all possible industries. Image recognition accuracy has seen an improvement where now systems are able to detect information in images to a better degree than the human eye. Companies like Amazon or Facebook are leveraging well the use of this technology to improve the customer experience in marketplaces, but much is yet to be improved and implemented.

From the 2020’s the next revolution in marketplaces will be those fully powered by AI. Automation in the selling and buying experience will be such that even the less likely will join the opportunity to buy or sell anything from their homes.

Living this technology advancement in the past years and experiencing the fundamental issues of trust, quality, and structure that peer-to-peer marketplaces have, Anil and I set out to build vendi: An AI-assisted marketplace to buy and sell quality items, starting with phones.

Passionate about AI, marketplaces, and the impact that technology has in our day-to-day lives, we set out to build a start-up that can join the lead of the next revolution of peer-to-peer marketplaces. vendi is born to create a new concept of peer-to-peer where the platform uses AI to list the items for you with just two pictures and where the vendi network verifies every item that you buy. Furthermore, we aim to be as transparent as possible and share the marketplace and our stories with our users. Our goal is to be secure and remove all scammers from peer to peer platforms, make an individual user sell like a professional with the technology we build, and make marketplace content relevant.

In our journey, we learn about scams and how to avoid them, about technology and how a robust AI base will power vendi and leverage many other marketplaces, and how constraints in a peer-to-peer marketplace improve vastly the user experience. vendi is a marketplace done by users, for users. Our core values: trust, quality, and simplicity.

Welcome to vendi and feel free to connect with us and share your experiences in online marketplaces.