Refurbished devices marketplace Reebelo bags seed funding

Reebelo, a marketplace for pre-loved devices, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round led by Germany-based June Fund.

Reebelo co-founders Philip Franta (left) and Rastouil Fabien / Photo credit: Antler

Early-stage VC firm Antler also participated in the round, according to a statement. Singapore-based Reebelo was part of Antler’s third cohort of startups and was a graduate of HyperSpark, StartupX’s sustainability pre-accelerator run in partnership with investment giant Temasek.

According to a 2018 study by the National Environment Agency of Singapore, the city-state produces 60,000 tons of e-waste annually, and only 6% of that gets recycled. To help reduce that number, Reebelo’s recommerce marketplace enables consumers in Singapore to buy or sell used smartphones, tablets, and notebooks.

Recommerce, or reverse commerce, refers to the buying and selling of pre-owned goods, mainly electronic devices.

How is the startup different? Some recommerce players in Asia include Moby and Red White Mobile in Singapore, Budli in India, and Laku6 in Indonesia.

At its core, Reebelo is a company that buys used electronics from enterprises and individuals and then refurbishes and tests the devices before listing them on the website. The registered secondhand goods dealer also offers extended warranties to give customers peace of mind.

Under its partnership with environmental charity One Tree Planted, the startup said that one tree is planted for every device sold on its platform.

What are its challenges? So far, most people upgrade their devices once newer models are released, a spokesperson for the company told Tech in Asia. Nowadays, broken devices are also thrown away rather than repaired.

The company aims to change this behavior by allowing customers to sell their used devices for cash, giving their older gadgets a new lease on life.

“Reebelo’s ambitious vision is to build the circular economy for electronics,” Philip Franta, founder and CEO at Reebelo, said. “[We’re trying] to change the way people consume tech devices at a more sustainable pace – one device at a time.”

What’s the opportunity? Reebelo’s addressable market size in the region, according to the company, stands at US$4.2 billion. To capture a larger share of this, the startup aims to expand into new business lines such as device rentals and offer bundled business phones and laptops for companies.

It also plans to enter other markets across Asia Pacific and add support for more electronics categories in the future.

How much traction has it gotten? The startup claims to have served more than 210,000 users on its platform since January and is “aiming to keep growing in a sustainable way month on month.”