Finnish re-commerce marketplace Mjuk has successfully raised €2.5 million in funding from an investor syndicate, including Trind VC, Alliance VC, Superhero Capital, Lifeline Ventures, and angel investors. €0.5 million of the funding was raised as an equity loan from Finnvera. The fresh injection of funding will accelerate Mjuk’s growth towards profitability while strengthening the brand’s reputation in both B2B and B2C segments.
“We are excited to welcome new investors Trind VC and Superhero Capital onboard, as well as thank our existing investors Alliance VC and Lifeline Ventures for their continued support towards a more circular economy in the furniture business. Having top European funds back us in a tough funding environment shows that our business and service models are working and have the potential to capture a significant share of the furniture re-commerce market,” said Rickard Zilliacus, CEO and co-founder of Mjuk.
Brands struggle with overstock and returned products, as they take up expensive warehouse space and can’t be reintegrated into their own sales channels. Mjuk’s end-to-end circular marketplace enables responsible brands to sell quality design products with attractive prices to consumers who are looking to enhance their circular economy lifestyles.
Furniture is one of the world’s largest consumer segments and is by far the biggest category in classified ads by volume. However, furniture is creating a steadily growing proportion of the waste that ends up in landfills, as shown by a study from the Environmental Protection Agency. According to recent estimates, landfills might be filling up with furniture at unprecedented speed due to the decorating boom caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The problem Mjuk is tackling is huge: millions of tons of furniture are burned or tossed into landfills every single year while perfectly good furniture gets disregarded due to changing preferences, relocation, and needs. Mjuk tackles this by giving a second life to quality products. At Trind, we see that Mjuk is exceptionally well-positioned to take advantage of the ever-increasing trends of the circular economy and conscious consumption, and be the leader in sustainable furniture retail,” commented Reima Linnanvirta, Partner at Trind VC.
Mjuk is an end-to-end circular marketplace, simplifying the process for both companies and consumers to sell furniture that is redundant. This includes second-hand furniture, overstock, and retailer returns that cannot be reintegrated into conventional sales channels. Mjuk handles the entire process, from furniture pickup and cleaning to photography, warehousing, marketing, sales, and delivery, which makes the buying and selling experience effortless. The success of Mjuk’s service is showcased by an unusually high and growing customer satisfaction score of 4.1/5, which is rarely witnessed in the furniture business.
“We are happy to continue supporting the Mjuk team as they have demonstrated very solid customer traction in Finland and Sweden since our first investment. We believe that the market is only in its early stages, and we expect to see substantial growth in the furniture re-commerce market in the coming years. Mjuk has a clear ambition and capability to build the leading platform in Europe,” added Juha Lindfors, Managing Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
Since its launch in 2019, Mjuk has grown its revenue every year 100% YoY with €3M in revenue in 2022, and has a solid client base in Finland and Sweden. In the future, Mjuk aims to be the category leader in Europe, solving the industry’s biggest problems with a seamless service handling overstock, while offering consumers the best prices for quality furniture.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2023/09/helsinki-based-furniture-re-commerce-mjuk-raises-e2-5-million-to-ensure-minimal-waste-for-brands/
