Growth50 companies, including Peter Windischhofer, CEO and Co-founder of refurbed, met with over 90 investors apart of the selection panel at the Tech Tour Growth Europe event in Paris where refurbed was named as the winner of the Tech Tour Growth50 Sustainability Award. Refurbed is Ireland’s leading online marketplace for refurbished electronics, offering sustainable alternatives to ‘new’ products through their 40 step refurbishment process and offsetting any carbon waste produced in the process through planting trees.
Refurbed competed against over 300 European companies, hoping to make the 2023 edition of the Tech Tour Growth50. The prospect list of 50 of Europe’s future unicorns, or ‘soonicorns’, shines a light on the European tech companies with the biggest potential. Among those selected by the panel of over 90 investors, refurbed was announced as the winner of the Sustainability Award.
The selection panel was chaired by Falk Muller-Veerse of Bryan, Garnier & Co. and flanked by Elina Berrebi of Revaia (Digital Lead), Janke Dittmer of Gilde Healthcare (Health Lead), and Remy de Tonnac of ETF Partners (Sustainability Lead).
Sustainability is at the core of refurbed’s values and mission, providing cheaper electronic alternatives to consumers who want to shop more responsibly and have a positive impact on the environment while also saving money and staying up-to-date with the latest tech. The Vienna based e-commerce business plants a tree for every product sold and has done so since the company was established in 2017. This initiative has led to a huge amount of savings of e-waste each year.
With this environmentally friendly leadership, refurbed is encouraging individuals to reconsider their purchasing habits and urging consumers to go green when purchasing new tech devices, particularly mobile phones, laptops and tablets, to engage with the circular economy. According to the company’s own data, consumers who bought from the online platform across all 13 markets they are active in, have saved more than 622,000 KG of e-waste while Irish consumers contributed 16,850KG to this figure.
Having launched a B2B offering and refurbished household appliances as well as sports equipment for its customers across Europe over the past months, these categories are part of refurbed’s ongoing expansion of its offering. Refurbed now has a device in 1 in 40 households in Ireland, just since it started operations in March 2021, and is on its way to becoming the Amazon of refurbished products.
Data collected from the companies featured on the Growth50 List reveals both positive trends and structural challenges for Europe’s tech entrepreneurship and investment scene. The average funding raised by the Growth50 companies in health, sustainability or digital sectors is not substantially different.
The data also shows that growth investment is now crossing over to all tech sectors, particularly to “deep tech” spaces, such as quantum, computing, photonics, AI for health, green energy or climate tech. Growth investors are still in short supply in the EU: 48% of the estimated number of Growth50 investors are outside the EU, and 20% are outside Europe, mostly in the US (16%). Additionally, the Growth50 companies raised an impressive €2.2 Billion in the past 13 months.
Speaking on the announcement, Peter Windischhofer, CEO and Co-Founder of refurbed, said: “We are thrilled to be the Sustainability Award recipient this year. It is a tremendous honour, and we are overjoyed that our efforts to urge individuals to reconsider their purchasing habits, have been recognised by this distinguished award. I am excited to see refurbed’s ongoing growth. This year will be all about making a further impact, and refurbed will be at the forefront of assisting customers in reducing their carbon footprint and e-waste.”
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