The company will use the fresh capital to support the commercial rollout of its automated sorting solutions for the textile industry.
Berlin-based reverse.fashion, a startup developing AI-powered textile sorting technology, has secured a seven-figure extension to its pre-seed funding round from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).
Founded in 2024 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Berlin by Dr Karsten Pufahl, Paul Doertenbach and Mario Osterwalder, reverse.fashion develops AI systems that automate the sorting and digitisation of used textiles. Combining computer vision, machine learning, Digital Product Passport (DPP) integration, and advanced sensing technologies, the company enables textile sorters, recyclers, and circular fashion businesses to accurately identify, classify, and route used garments to the most suitable reuse, repair, resale, upcycling, or recycling pathway.
Its AI platform digitises and classifies garments based on characteristics such as condition, brand, style, size, and material composition, replacing labour-intensive, subjective sorting processes with intelligent, data-driven technology. The company says its solutions improve operational efficiency, increase the value recovered from used textiles, reduce waste, and help the fashion industry meet growing sustainability and regulatory requirements.
Built on years of research and development in collaboration with industry and academic partners, reverse.fashion aims to make textile circularity scalable by creating the next generation of textile sorting infrastructure. According to the company, its technology increases sorting quality and throughput, allowing customers to boost productivity by 40 per cent while increasing revenue by around 20 per cent.
The funding will support the company’s commercial expansion, including the continued deployment of its co.sort software and the rollout of its line.sort automated sorting system, with the aim of scaling automated textile sorting across the industry.