Dutch circular sharing startup Peerby, which focuses on enabling neighbours to borrow and lend household items has just scored €2.3 million in a fresh funding round led by Toronto-based tech and impact fund Loyal. The round also witnessed the participation of ‘Shamrock Ventures’ and existing shareholders coupled with hundreds of crowdfunders.
The news follows a period of rapid growth that coincides with the tenth anniversary, which saw hundreds of crowdfunders becoming co-owners and the first profitable month of the platform that launched a revamped model in 2019. However, the startup’s objective keeps being to connect neighbours in an attempt to reduce waste and emissions.
Founded in 2021, Peerby is a platform that aims to use the latest capital to double down on its impact, as it focuses primarily to grow in medium-sized Dutch cities. It’s worth noting that as the platform doubles down on this mission, it strives to attain the same level of sharing that has been achieved in Amsterdam, where 1 in 4 households is believed to be a member. Also, in addition, the subject startup is poised to take the renewed platform international, with Belgium already leading the way as it rollouts in other markets planned for late 2022 and 2023.
Meanwhile, the financial success of the revamped platform is based on the introduction of a paid plan for borrowers. This saw the startup’s revenue grow by 200% in 2020 and 222% in 2021. A growth that is attributed to support inviting their neighbours to join Peerby’s digital neighbourhood shearing shed, which is currently filled with more than half a million shared products.
According to startup Peerby, 900 crowdfunders, who actually provided the company with a loan five years ago, were given the privilege to convert their loan into shares based on the investment. As a result, a good number opted for conversion, with 40% of them deciding to buy additional shares.
It’s evident that Peerby investors believed in both the economic and sustainability potential of the company, in view of this, recent research by ‘Milieu Centraal’, a Dutch environmental research institute, made clear that consumers can reduce their climate impact by more than 25% by making circular choices, like sharing and borrowing.
“The support from members, crowdfunding and professional investors confirms that everyone is eager for an alternative to today’s hyperconsumption, we’ve always had social and ecological impact and the challenge was to become financially sustainable. Now that we have achieved profitability, the time is ripe to make neighbourhood sharing mainstream”, ‘Daan Weddepohl’, the founder and CEO of startup Peerby stated.
Loyal VC’s founding partner ‘Kamal Hassan’ commented: “Peerby, besides being a great impact story, is a testament to the power of persistence. Others have struggled to implement this obvious concept since it has challenging economics. Daan and his team have accumulated years of customer insights and iterated every aspect of their model to crack their industry’s code. Loyal is delighted to support them in expanding the power of sharing”.
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