Catawiki
Online marketplace for buying and selling special objects through curated weekly auctions, with items reviewed by in-house experts.
About
Catawiki is an online marketplace where people buy and sell special objects through curated weekly auctions. Every item offered goes through review by in-house experts specializing in categories such as art, design, jewellery, fashion, classic cars, and collectables. The platform connects buyers and sellers across more than 60 countries.
Founded in 2008 by René Schoenmakers and Marco Jansen in Assen, Netherlands, Catawiki started as a wiki-based compendium of collector's catalogues before pivoting to online auctions in 2011. The company is now headquartered in Amsterdam and backed by Permira.
Catawiki's engineering team uses a microservice architecture with services built in Ruby and Go, structured into domain-focused teams covering seller experience, search, localisation, and recommendations.