Bundles, who made name selling clean clothes on a pay-per-wash basis, raised funding and is willing to use it to expand its services to other IoT applications supporting the circulair business model.
Informal investors support circulair and holistic business model
Bundles started in 2014, collaborating with classic washing machine manufacturer Miele, paid for by every usage. Besides washing machines, also tumble machines and dishwashers are supported by the pay-per-use model. Offering this payment option, combined with monitoring and smart-measurements via IoT, Marcel Peters found a way to make expensive equipment like washing machines more affordable. The IoT can measure usage, machine status and maintenance. The €600.000 funding should help Bundles expand the service to other products like fridges, coffee machines, heating, beds and even furniture. It will be invested in the expansion of the softwareplatform and algorithms, so other manufacturers can connect their products too. They were happy to share one of the investors is impact investor Anne-Marie Rakhorst of Duurzaamheid.nl. Peters thinks current lease contracts are outdated and the pay-per-usage subscription fills in the gap between buy and lease on the consumer market. The investments households have to make decrease too and the model of paying per usage is more fair.
Circulair economy: opportunity for startups like Bundles
A holistic approach of households and appliances, who would have figured paying per wash could be the start of changing the way we use our devices? And could this be the start of manufacturers making smarter machines? The Rockstart smart energy alumni might have gotten a hold of a very sustainable business model here. Bundles already received €600k seed funding in 2014.
Photocredits: Pexels/Gratisopgraphy