Bower, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of an app that directly rewards users with money or coupons when they recycle everyday waste items, raised €4.1m ($4.7m) in late seed funding.
The round was led by blq Invest, with participation from existing investors Almi Invest GreenTech, Verdane Foundation, Orkla Ventures and other major investors.
The company, which has raised €5m ($5.7m) to-date, intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach globally, starting with UK.
Co-founded in 2015 by brother and sister team Suwar Mert (CEO) and Berfin Roza Mert (COO), Bower provides a platform that allows users to scan anything with a barcode, from milk cartons to crisp packets, and receive money, coupons or discounts when they take the packaging to a recycling point.
The free-to-use app, available on both Android and iOS, allows users to register any product and any recycling location that they take it to. The app’s bank of data is built through crowdsourcing, and users are constantly registering new barcodes and recycling points to help grow Bower’s reach. Rewards can be claimed in the form of points – which can be exchanged for coupons that provide users with discounts on future purchases – or redeemed as money. Users can deposit this money directly into their bank accounts, transfer it to a friend, or give it to charity. Over €12,300 has been donated to charity through Bower so far.
Bower partners with brands – such as consumer giants Nestlé, L’Oréal and Unilever – to help them reach their sustainability goals. Companies can follow their products’ life cycles through the app’s data, and understand consumer behaviour in terms of item types, and recycling times and locations.
This insight, alongside access to an extensive app userbase, allows companies large and small to improve their environmental efforts and make sure more items are recycled.
The app also educates the public on waste and plastic pollution, which is crucial considering that the same WRAP report found that over half of UK households throw recyclable items into general waste bins. Users can scan the barcodes of packaging to learn about its materials and recyclability, while also using the app’s in-built GPS to find their nearest recycling point.
Bower is currently one of the most popular apps in Sweden, and in its category globally. Its 300,000 users in the Nordic region recycle more than 1.4 million packages every month, and the platform has helped save over 1,000 tonnes (1 million kg) of CO2 to-date.
The company employs a team of 19 people and has raised €5M ($5.7M) in investment to date.
FinSMEs
24/03/2022