Finnish Kamupak is merging with Swedish competitor, impact tech startup &Repeat, forming a Nordic market leader in circular packaging solutions. With the announced merger the new company will complete its market offerings and strengthen its capabilities to help the restaurant Industry to meet the new upcoming EU regulation that is coming into force in January 2024 in Sweden.
&Repeat has since its launch in December 2020 helped thousands of restaurants and food service players, in both Sweden and France, in the battle against packaging waste. During two and a half years of operation, more than 2,5 million single-use packaging and 500 tons of CO2 emissions have been avoided as a result of the company’s innovative solutions. &Repeat has during the same period raised more than 60M SEK in venture capital from among others Alliance Venture and the French VC SuperCapital.
Kamupak is the Finnish startup and market leader in reusable packaging solutions, founded in 2019. Kamupak is building the future of circular economy solutions – with a mission to reduce the world’s waste load with a unique digital deposit and borrow system for reusable takeaway packaging.
The newly merged company will have more than 500 customers in Sweden and Finland including large brands such as Pressbyrån, Espressohouse, Wolt, Sodexo, Kespro and Picnic.
After both companies have invested heavily into building a scalable tech platform, the new company will now have a strong focus on leveraging “next-generation tech” to remove frictions for guests and simplify for all operators in the value chain.
“We feel that the available solution on the market has a large improvement potential when it comes to providing simplicity and friction-free experience to those who interact with the system. Our new strategy is to leverage AI and advanced RFID to provide a future-proof and friction-free experience for both consumers and takeaway operators,” said Ilkka Puikkonen, CEO of Kamupak.
As of January 2024, in Sweden, a new regulation will require restaurants to offer consumers the option to have their take-away food served in reusable packaging that can be returned back to the restaurant again for cleaning and reuse. The merger will position the new company as a clear market leader in the Swedish reuse market when the new regulation comes into force in January 2024.
”With a new briz of regulation across EU member states ahead, the packaging industry stands on the brink of a transformation and we are just about to embark on this long journey. Merging with Kamupak to create a strong Nordic player will strengthen us in the Swedish market and simultaneously also position us well to become a strong European player,” added CEO and co-founder of &Repeat, Tor Espen Steinvik.
The two companies will integrate its operation and assets and continue their business in both Sweden and Finland under existing brands. The CEO of the new company will be Ilkka Puikkonen, today the CEO of Kamupak. Tor Espen Steinvik, CEO and co-founder of &Repeat will continue in the company for a transitional period and then take on an advisory role in the new company. The details of the deal remain undisclosed according to an agreement between the parties.
