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The founders of Recast are seeking operators who understand marketplaces and the fishing industry and they are ready to offer them investment opportunities in their app designed to dominate the market in second-hand tackle. Could that be you?
Angling International has spoken to co-founder Ignacia Vial, who explains why investment from inside the tackle trade will turbo-charge his project which is designed to match similar marketplaces in other industries that are now worth more than $250 million.
Angling International: Why is it important to open up the opportunity to invest in Recast to smaller investors from inside the tackle trade?
IV: Recast lives on community. We’re building infrastructure for a category every generalist marketplace has ignored, and that only works credibly with people who actually understand the trade. Retailers know second-hand economics. Distributors know where the cross-border trust gaps sit. Importers know which brands care about end-of-life inventory. Money from outside the industry is fine. Money from inside comes with introductions, judgment and pattern recognition you cannot buy.
So, what’s in it for those investors?
Equity at the earliest possible entry point in the company building the dominant vertical marketplace for second-hand fishing tackle in Europe. Three things in practice. Financial upside, which at pre-seed entry is meaningful. Front row visibility on a category shift already happening in adjacent markets, Reverb in music, Vinted in fashion. And direct access to a platform that, as it grows, becomes a distribution and intelligence channel for anyone with stock to move or a brand to build. Europe is chapter one. North America is chapter two, and we already have a US waitlist, a US investor, and live conversations with US operators, earlier than planned.
What is the minimum investment and for how much equity?
Right now, we are raising up to €650,000 with a €500,000 minimum close. Minimum ticket is €25,000, though we are flexible for the right partner. Investment is via a SAFE, which converts into equity at our next priced round. At our €3.75 million post-money cap, a €25,000 ticket converts to roughly 0.6 to 0.7%, depending on the next round’s terms. Larger tickets are also welcome.
If there is a lot of interest, how will you decide who to bring in?
First in matters, fit matters more. We’re prioritising people who bring something beyond the cheque. National market reach, brand relationships, retail or logistics experience, audience in a specific discipline. If we are oversubscribed, and we may be, we’ll allocate on strategic value first, ticket size second. Ten well placed industry believers beats one passive cheque, even a bigger one.
And what is the ideal profile of small to medium investor from inside the trade?
Lovers of angling who are comfortable backing an early stage company. And operators who understand marketplaces and the fishing industry across the EU, UK and US.
But silent partners are also interesting too, yes?
Absolutely. Not everyone wants to be on a WhatsApp thread or join a quarterly call, and that is fine. A silent partner who believes in the thesis and writes a cheque is doing exactly what an investor is supposed to do. Same SAFE terms for everyone. The difference is just engagement after the cheque clears. We send quarterly updates regardless.
When is the deadline for registering interest to invest in Recast in this round?
We opened the round in late April and aim to close by the 30th of September. The first external commitment of €30,000 came in from a US angel, with founder capital also in. We’re working through a pipeline of industry operators and angels now. A meaningful share of early inbound, including a growing US waitlist for a market we haven’t launched in yet, has pulled some conversations forward. The timeline may move faster than September. The best tickets are usually the early ones.
What is the purpose for raising investment right now? What will it enable you to do?
Recast was built lean. Around 700 anglers and 170 active sellers across five European markets, on essentially nothing. This round is about acceleration, not survival. The focus is supply density and liquidity in the markets we already operate in, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain. Two priorities. Scale the ambassador programme hard, the fishing creators across Europe who turn their audiences into active supply on Recast. And land the first wave of brand drops, where tackle brands route dead stock through Recast to raise funds for non-profits the angling community cares about. None of that requires a huge cheque. It requires a focused one.
And if someone is interested, what should they do next?
Email me at ignacio@recast.market with a quick note on who you are, your connection to the trade, and the rough size of ticket you are considering. I’ll send back a one-pager and we’ll set up a call to walk through the numbers and the SAFE document. I read and reply to every email personally.
