The E-Waste Column no. 59

Sep 7, 2023

2 min read

Continuing from yesterday, we will be looking at a few more startups and scaleups in the refurbished electronics sector.

♻️ Reebelo

Founded in 2019, the Singapore-based Reebelo runs a marketplace for pre-owned devices. The company offers its customers 1-year warranties and 30-day free returns. Reebelo also has a buyback program and allows customers to upgrade their devices. Customers can also purchase an additional two-year warranty for accidental damage, together with screen and battery swaps. The scaleup has raised $50.3M in funding to date. It currently operates in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the US and it has over 21 000 customers.

♻️ Refurbed

Founded in 2017, the Vienna-based Refurbed runs an online marketplace for selling refurbished electronics. The scaleup refurbishes devices and sells them at about 40% below the price of a brand-new counterpart. Customers are given a 30-day trial period and a 12-month warranty. The scaleup states that buying a refurbished device from them can reduce carbon emissions by up to 70%. To offset the remaining 30%, it plants a tree per device purchased. The scaleup has raised $73.2M in funding to date. Refurbed operates on nine European markets and it has sold its devices to over 815 000 customers.

♻️ Swappie

Founded in 2016, the Finnish scaleup Swappie focuses on selling affordable refurbished iPhones through its online platform. The scaleup tests and refurbishes devices in its European factories, and then prices them according to their condition. The scaleup has raised $169.4M in funding to date. The company currently operates in 15 European countries (incl. Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, Italy, and Poland) and it plans to expand to three further countries in the near future.

♻️ Valyuu

Founded in 2021, the Dutch startup Valyuu runs a circular economy marketplace, which enables consumers to sell, purchase, and donate their used electronics. To make the transactions easy and transparent, the platform uses a “product passport” that includes photos, detailed information on the device condition, and access to testing reports. Using “matching and pricing algorithms”, the marketplace aims to ensure that “[e]very product is recirculated among consumers, refurbishers and recyclers”. The startup recently announced that it had raised €2.4M in a seed funding round. It has now raised a total of €3.1M to date. Using its most recent funding, it plans to develop its platform further, increase brand awareness in the Benelux region, and to expand internationally.

⬇️ Which startups and scaleups in the refurbished tech sector did I miss? Let me know in the comments.