Lithuanian startup Sort A Brick, a service for sorting customers’ old LEGO® bricks into new sets, has secured an investment of €1.15 million. The financial support comes from the Baltic-focused VC fund Firstpick, nine business angels, and the founders’ initial investment of €200k.
Sort A Brick offers a service that cleans, sorts, and repackages customers’ LEGO bricks into original or custom sets, giving a second life to already-owned toys. By spring 2025, the startup seeks to raise a new round of €2,500,000 with international VC funds. Their goal is to expand across Europe, starting with a limited launch in Germany this October.
“Millions of LEGO bricks sit unused in boxes because neither kids nor parents want to sift through them,” said Aurimas Slapšys, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sort A Brick. “We help by cleaning and sorting customers’ brick collections, then using our proprietary software to suggest new models to build. This offers kids a brand-new building experience for a smaller price than buying new sets from the store.”
The idea for Sort A Brick was conceived by Co-Founder Ilya Malkin, who saw his own family’s use of LEGO items as wasteful. “I love LEGO toys for my kids, but they would often build each model once and then ask me to buy a new set,” commented Malkin. “This isn’t just expensive – it also contributes to the build-up of unsustainable plastic in the world.” Most LEGO parts are made of difficult-to-recycle ABS plastic. While the manufacturer does not disclose official numbers, Malkin estimates that LEGO has produced 1.5 trillion of these bricks since its first series in 1958.
Encouraging the reuse of goods and extending product life is an emerging trend and growing business model, projected to make up 15% of the physical consumer goods market by 2030 with a revenue of €265 billion. Circular companies include rental systems for items like sport equipment and luxury goods, which reduce unnecessary purchases. They also encompass digital platforms such as Vinted, a platform for reselling clothes and Lithuania’s first unicorn, and Tingit, a zero-effort marketplace that enables users to repair garments, keeping items in use longer. These recirculation concepts lower environmental impact and promote sustainable consumer habits.
On his decision to invest in Sort A Brick, Mantas Mikuckas, Co-Founder of Vinted, added: “Circular businesses have huge potential because they address real problems while also cutting CO2 emissions. Sort A Brick is a great example, letting kids enjoy their toys more while saving parents money and reducing their environmental footprint. It has also developed a truly unique approach, as the only company that actually sorts LEGO bricks for you.”
Malkin’s idea for the brick sorting service centers on simplifying life for parents. “Building with LEGO models is fun; sorting them, not so much,” said Malkin. “We take care of the organizing, so parents can focus on having fun and spending more quality time together.”
At its heart, Sort A Brick is a tech startup. Its proprietary AI system analyzes bricks to determine what models can be built from the mix. The bricks are sorted accordingly, returning customers’ LEGO pieces repackaged by set and with online accessible instructions.
“The core technology is a computer vision algorithm that can recognize the different bricks and identify possible combinations. The sorting process will work like an automated assembly line, where machines clean, group, and sort the bricks new,” Malkin explained.
The startup is using the recent funding to build up its operations, investing in prototype machinery, advanced computer vision, software development, and market tests. “We are currently preparing to raise additional funding to upgrade our technology to automatic operations, increase capacity, and improve product experience for our customers. This will allow us to make the service fully available not only in Germany, our first target market, but also to expand further,” Malkin added.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/10/vilnius-based-sort-a-brick-secures-e1-15-million-to-help-people-reuse-their-lego-bricks/
