CATCHYS aims to bring transparency to the market for new and secondhand fashion. The metasearch engine helps customers find beautiful pieces at the best prices. We asked founders Franzi Majer and Magdalena Oehl our 7 questions.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
CATCHYS is an online search engine for new and used items in the fashion, furniture, watches, and jewelry categories. As an aggregator, CATCHYS carries the complete range of international second-hand and second-season marketplaces and sale offers from online shops – from Zara to Prada. It already combines over 5 million products on one site. Clearly presented, it makes it easy to find that special favorite item at the best price. This makes it the ideal site for users to compare prices and gain a perfect market overview of design classics, unique pieces, and great deals. For partner shops, CATCHYS brings new customers to the site and has thus already become an important marketing channel for all large and small shops.
The founders are Franzi Majer (33) and Magdalena Oehl (32), who shared a common interest in their previous startup activities (Franzi was managing director at Videdressing, and Magdalena, together with Yacine Coco, founded TalentRocket, an employer branding and job platform for lawyers), came up with the idea when they were looking for a special designer bag for a friend and realized how many online second-hand shops there are worldwide and how little overview individual users have, especially when you add in second-season and general sales offers. CATCHYS was designed to change this, giving users a perfect way to compare the best product for them at the best price.
2. But that's been around for a long time!
You would think so, but in fact we are the first search engine in the second-hand sector, which is quite surprising, as the market for used items is a fast-growing but at the same time highly fragmented one — perfect conditions for a metasearch.
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
As with any startup, or even any company, the biggest challenge is always creating a product that is both useful and enjoyable for the user. "What does the user want?" is therefore the central question that all product development must revolve around. We're making good progress in this regard, but there's still a lot to do.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
We are currently extremely pleased with our growth, both on the user and partner side, and are working hard to continue improving the product.
5. What does Munich mean to you?
We've never regretted starting a business here in Munich—quite the opposite. The startup scene here may be smaller than in Berlin, but perhaps that's precisely why the founders are more closely connected, and they help each other and exchange ideas. Apart from that, of course, we compete with some startups when it comes to recruiting employees, but even so, it's nothing compared to the competition for top talent in Berlin.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
CATCHYS definitely has the potential to become a major startup, simply because of its many verticals like fashion, furniture, watches, and jewelry. However, we're not getting too cocky. We're taking things step by step. There's still a lot we can improve and, of course, many features we're planning. Our IT and product teams, in particular, are set to grow in the coming months, which means we still have a lot to do.
7. Schwabinger 7 or Bob Beaman?
Bob Beaman, then Schwabinger 7.
