Reboxed®, a sustainable tech startup with a mission to help solve the e-waste crisis by rehoming 100 million electronic devices by 2030, has secured €1.8 million in seed funding led by ACF Investors.
Founded in 2020 during the first Covid lockdown by friends Phil Kemish and Matt Thorne, Reboxed provides out-of-the-box solutions for retailers and businesses to accelerate the move to a circular economy. The company will use the funds to drive growth and further develop its retail partner programmes and Reboxed for business service.
Technology consumption generates more than 50 million tonnes of e-waste every year, with each new device creating an average carbon footprint equivalent to 79kg of CO2. Consumers and retailers are increasingly turning to recommerce solutions to cut down CO2 emissions, with 22 million people in Britain considering buying a refurbished phone.
Reboxed® has built a leading brand and recommerce platform connecting businesses and customers with a better and more sustainable way to buy and sell technology. It offers premium refurbished and pre-owned devices including phones, laptops, tablets and smart watches through a “like new” experience that focuses on quality, consistency and a genuinely circular approach.
Phil Kemish, Co-founder and CEO of Reboxed®, said: “We want to give everyone access to high quality, great value tech, with a flexible, hassle-free experience. Mounting ESG pressures means that businesses are looking for integrated solutions that will help them achieve their climate goals. Reboxed’s sustainable services help businesses do just that. This latest investment will be used to expand our growing team, build out our technology stack and scale the brand.”
The company has rapidly grown by enabling clients in the telecom sector such as Three Mobile launch a refurbished technology offering to customers of SMARTY, its sim-only brand, without having to invest in the infrastructure. Reboxed’s historic investors include Ali-A, a YouTuber with over 20 Million subscribers, ex-founders of Mazuma and Envirophone, Martin McCourt ex-CEO of Dyson, Nick Beighton ex-CEO of ASOS, and the Ministry Of Sound group.
Tim Mills, Managing Partner, ACF Investors, added: “Awareness of the need for sustainability is fundamentally changing the retail landscape and driving a trend toward more responsible consumption. Recommerce is leading the way and is now growing 11 times faster than traditional retail. But too often the price of sustainability is an unnecessarily compromised customer experience, hence we are delighted to be backing the Reboxed team as they shift the benchmark and for the first time give UK consumers access to premium “like new” products, with all the benefits of recommerce.”
