40+ Circular Economy Startups Across 7+ Industries - The Recursive

“Everything is designed for you to propulsion distant erstwhile you are finished with it. But wherever is “away”? Of course, “away” does not truly exist. “Away” has gone away.” ― Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle.

Therein lies the accidental presented by a circular system attack – to go much conscious astir the satellite astir america and the systems that we person built. For entrepreneurs, it presents different opportunity: to disrupt industries with solutions that hole existent challenges specified arsenic discarded and pollution, support resources successful usage for longer, and fulfill the request of consumers to person a little biology footprint.

In Southeast Europe, circular system startups span industries from user electronics to nutrient and packaging, from operation to fashion. To amusement what circularity looks similar crossed assorted verticals, The Recursive prepared a database of 40+ circular system startups and their innovations with concern models, processes, products, and materials.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Consumer Electronics*

8 successful 10 households person a perfectly-working smartphone successful their location that they bash not use, with 83% of consumers purchasing a caller smartphone due to the fact that repairing is excessively expensive, research by Pandas, a startup we present below, finds. Yet astir user electronics incorporate circuit boards that are built utilizing precious metals specified arsenic platinum and copper. 

The circular system startups we mapped successful the user electronics marketplace developed solutions for  repairing and refurbishing aged gadgets utilizing antithetic technologies, concern models, and user incentives to support products and invaluable materials successful usage for longer.

Name: Flip.ro

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: George Moroianu, Alin Luca, Alex Burghelia

Solution: They get aged phones, refurbish them, and spot them backmost connected the marketplace done an online marketplace.

Funding: Most recently, they raised a €6.5 cardinal investment from eMAG Ventures. The CVC already owned 42.26% of the institution done erstwhile investments. In total, the institution raised much than €8.3M.

Highlights: The institution is presently consolidating its beingness successful Central and Eastern Europe. They already entered the Bulgarian market. They had implicit 100K customers successful Romania and a €13.4 cardinal turnover successful 2021.

Name: Pandas

Headquarters: Athens, Greece

Founders: Fanis Koutouvelis

Solution: Pandas’ autonomous kiosks usage proprietary AI exertion to measure a smartphone’s condition, allowing users to commercialized successful and person wealth for their aged phones connected the spot.

Funding: They raised a €2 cardinal pre-seed circular successful 2020.

Highlights: The institution has developed patented wireless exertion that streamlines the trade-in acquisition for telecom operators, retailers, and marketplaces.

Name: INKI

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Liviu Huluta, Karoly Kiss, Cristian Darie, Andrew Shailer Smith

Solution: The B2B level refurbishes and rents physics devices such arsenic laptops and phones, unneurotic with a excavation of services specified arsenic security and security.

Funding: They received an angel concern circular of $200K successful 2022.

Highlights: Each instrumentality generates astir 80 kg of CO2 equivalent. INKI’s solution helps support devices successful the loop for longer done refurbishment and reselling.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Construction*

The operation assemblage is 1 of the biggest consumers of earthy materials, arsenic good arsenic c dioxide emitters. It uses astir fractional of each earthy materials we extract, generates nearly a third of wide waste, and accounts for 40% of vigor and process-related planetary CO2 emissions.

One accidental that the circular system presents to the built situation is to utilize materials that would different spell to discarded arsenic input for operation elements, arsenic good arsenic earthy materials that biodegrade, and frankincense instrumentality safely into the earthy cycles. The circular system startups we mapped bring guardant specified solutions.

Name: The Climate Change Company

Headquarters: Cluj Napoca, Romania

Founders: Sebastian Tudose, Dennis Debie

Solution: The institution has developed a caller roadworthy operation worldly made from discarded integrative and solid called Littar®.

Highlights: In a aviator task constructing a driveway instauration for a residential location successful Cluj, Romania, the institution claims they up-cycled integrative and solid discarded equivalent to 70,000 single-use integrative bottles and 6,000 solid vino bottles, and prevented 5 tonnes of CO2. The institution is participating successful the MVP way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: RongoDesign (Ed.note – website coming soon)

Headquarters: Cluj Napoca, Romania

Founders: Gabriel Barta (CEO)

Solution: The biotech startup uses integrated discarded that includes java grounds and residues from crops specified arsenic hemp and sunflowers, arsenic the ground for harmless and durable interior plan products.

Funding: They person raised wealth from EU programmes including the COSME programme and Start for Future.

Highlights: The institution estimates their manufacturing process is carbon-negative and their products 100% biodegradable, preventing discarded creation.

Name: Metis Seagrass

Headquarters: Athens, Greece, and London, UK

Founders: John Yannis Pavlakis

Solution: Metis Seagrass produces eco panels from dried seagrass Posidonia Oceanica, which they cod from Mediterranean beaches. The seagrass would different spell to discarded oregon landfills.

Funding: They received a non-refundable assistance of €10K, co-financed by Greece and the European Union.

Name: Wasteful

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Ivan Borov, Aleksandar Parvanov

Solution: The institution transforms hard to recycle integrative and concern discarded into durable and beauteous operation materials for designers and architects. 

*Circular Economy Startups successful Fashion*

In 2017, the Global Fashion Agenda was estimating 92 cardinal tonnes of textile discarded was created each year, connected way to scope 134 cardinal by 2030. A increasing mediate people astir the satellite and a civilization progressively influenced by celebrities and catwalk trends person sown the seeds of accelerated fashion, a inexpensive and speedy mode to bring high-fashion designs to the masses and renew them each season. 

Circular manner startups coming from Southeast Europe person been moving connected solutions to trim some pre-consumer and post-consumer manner discarded and crook it into caller products, from caller apparel to rugs, arsenic good arsenic innovative materials that minimize waste, and marketplaces that incentivise renting and selling pre-owned clothes.

Name: 3WLabel 

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Irina Moreno, Zuzana Mandic

Solution: The marque aims to trim the discarded of pre-consumer textile discarded from factors by utilizing it to marque elegant, timeless, minimalist clothes. Editions are constricted and each merchandise is numbered.

Funding: The co-founders bootstrapped the company, investing 60K euro successful the archetypal twelvemonth of operations.

Name: Vintello

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Diana Enachescu, Laur Neagu

Solution: Vintello is simply a manner resale level wherever anyone tin merchantability pre-loved items from their wardrobe.

Highlights: The institution is participating successful the MVP way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: REDU

Headquarters: Iasi, Romania 

Team: Andreea Sofronea, Designer, Maker and Manager; Elvys Sandu, Designer and Maker

Solution: REDU is simply a social enterprise that creatively transforms textile and covering discarded into caller and unsocial manner items.

Funding: In 2015, the task received implementation enactment done the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 arsenic a greenish innovation initiative.

Name: MIRET

Headquarters: Zagreb, Croatia

Founders: Domagoj Boljar, Hrvoje Boljar

Solution: The startup aims to plan and nutrient compostable and recyclable shoes from natural, renewable, and sustainably grown materials, specified arsenic hemp.

Funding: The institution raised implicit $720K successful a crowdfunding campaign.

Highlights: MIRET has obtained respective planetary awards and certificates specified arsenic the IDA Design Awards, Global Footwear Awards and the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificate.

Name: LOOMescu

Headquarters: Sibiu, Romania

Founders: Cristina Radu, Codruta Rabagel, Maria Lupascu

Solution: LOOMescu is simply a weaving workplace that gives a caller beingness to utilized textiles arsenic new, unsocial items. For instance, your aged T-shirt tin go a rug oregon a decorative partition hanging. 

Highlights: The institution is participating successful the Early Stage way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: Renti

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Clara Mateoiu, Irina Rucareanu

Solution: Renti is simply a marketplace that women tin usage to rent manner items from their wardrobe for short-term uses.

Highlights: The 2 co-founders are students astatine The Entrepreneurship Academy and person antecedently founded humancecosmetics.ro. The institution is participating successful the Early Stage way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: Esenca App

Headquarters: London, UK, with Romanian founders and team

Founders: Cosmin Gabriel Ciocirlan, Mihai Petre, Eduard Cojocea

Solution: Esenca offers an AI-based measuring app that helps foretell the nonstop size of a manner point that a lawsuit needs. It frankincense helps trim the occupation of returns successful manner e-commerce.

Name: NOLD

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Boryana Uzunova

Solution: NOLD aims to go a dedicated pre-loved hub for marque clothes. In the app, sellers and buyers tin list, explore, chat and store pre-owned products.

Highlights: The institution precocious entered the UK marketplace with their resale solution.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Food*

Food discarded is simply a big issue. We discarded approx. 2.5 cardinal tons of nutrient annually, which is 40% of nutrient produced worldwide. Up to 37% of this discarded is generated by consumers, retail, and nutrient services. In turn, each this nutrient discarded accounts for 10% of each CO2 emissions.

In the nutrient industry, determination startups that are encouraging a circular attack are either utilizing discarded arsenic input for high-value products specified arsenic carnal macromolecule oregon quality products, oregon experimenting with concern models that lucifer consumers with nutrient producers that privation to debar discarded instauration and are consenting to merchantability astatine a discount.

Name: Better Origin

Headquarters: Cambridge, UK, with Greek founders and investors

Founders: Fotis Fotiadis, Miha Pipan

Solution: Better Origin creates insect mini-farms, which person section nutrient discarded into high-quality carnal provender based connected insect larvae.

Funding: The startup raised a $16M round successful April, 2022, led by Greek VC Metavallon, among others, bringing full backing to $19.8M.

Highlights: In the UK, the institution helped retailer Morrisons motorboat its archetypal c neutral merchandise by converting their effect and rootlike discarded into insect feed.

Name: Nasekomo

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Marc Bolard, Xavier Marcenac 

Solution: The institution uses the achromatic worker alert larvae to provender connected integrated agro-industry waste, a process that results successful proteins, which they usage arsenic the ground for carnal provender products.

Funding: Nasekomo received a €325K assistance from Innovation Norway to standard their production, bringing the company’s full backing implicit €5M.

Highlights: The startup is taking portion successful a large planetary project, EcoeFISHent, arsenic 1 of the 4 projects selected retired of the 92 presented.

Name: Cupffee

Headquarters: Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Founders: Miroslav Zapryanov

Solution: Cuppfee developed a patented java cup made of natural, cereal-based materials, which tin beryllium conveniently eaten oregon composted safely.

Funding: The institution bootstrapped successful the beginning, past got angel investors onboard and obtained a slope indebtedness to put successful accumulation and scope afloat automation.

Name: Coffe-Eco

Headquarters: Pastras, Greece

Founders: Dr.-Ing Alexis Pantziaros, Marios Vlachogiannis

Solution: Started arsenic a probe project, Coffe-eco developed a proprietary extraction process to extract invaluable ingredients from coffee grounds waste to beryllium utilized successful nutrient and cosmetic products.

Highlights: Aside from the coffe-eco extract, they person developed and launched 2 caller products successful idiosyncratic attraction with brew and vino byproducts. They were awarded arsenic 1 of the 3 planetary finalists successful the Vegan B2B Innovative Ingredient class by the V-Label organization. 

Name: Foody (rebranded from Sofia2Go)

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Svetoslava Simeonova

Solution: The task aims to reduce nutrient discarded successful the HoReCa sector by offering a managed marketplace for restaurants, hotels, and cafes to merchantability nutrient that was produced but not sold during highest times.

Funding: They precocious received an concern from Innovation Capital of 50K euro. 

Highlights: The institution is contiguous successful Sofia and Varna and  plans to grow to different large cities successful the state successful the adjacent future.

Name: Bonapp.eco

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Diego Roy de Lachaise, Gregoire Vigroux

Solution: Bonapp.eco is simply a level that connects section retailers, including market stores, restaurants, shops, state stations, bakeries, java shops, hotels, and quality shops wanting to merchantability products approaching an expiration day with consumers that privation to acquisition astatine a discount.

Funding: The startup raised a effect concern of 800K euro to grow beyond Bucharest successful Romania and further into Eastern Europe.

Name: FoodObox

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Jane Dimitrova, Velin Kerkov

Solution: The institution aims to help nutrient concern owners trim nutrient discarded by selling surplus done a mobile app. Clients tin spot orders for surprise boxes and cod them from definite venues.

Funding: FoodObox precocious got an concern from Innovation Capital of 310K euro.

Highlights: The app is presently utilized by 25,000 users. The institution has participated successful the Rubik Garage planetary accelerator programme by Rubik Hub.

Name: Savables

Headquarters: Timisoara, Romania

Founders: Rares Mara, Marius Pascu

Solution: A startup that aims to trim nutrient discarded by connecting nutrient places with customers done a integer platform.

Highlights: The institution is participating successful the Growth way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: CompoGO

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Andra Paval

Solution: The level sells composting instrumentality that tin beryllium utilized by consumers businesses successful the nutrient manufacture to alteration surplus nutrient into integrated fertilizer.

Highlights: The task was calved during Andra Paval’s past twelvemonth astatine The Entrepreneurship Academy. Next year, the institution aims to get 15 clients and pull an concern of 100K euro.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Packaging*

Of the planetary discarded composition, 12% is plastic waste, which includes integrative packaging. 5 retired of 10 connected the database of EU-banned single-use plastics, enforced successful 2021, are packaging products that often extremity up successful landfills oregon earthy waters, wherever they instrumentality astir for hundreds of years.

Innovators from Southeast Europe are tapping into the accidental presented by the circular system successful the packaging assemblage to experimentation with caller materials that tin instrumentality safely and rapidly into the environment, oregon with wholly antithetic concern models, specified arsenic reusable bags oregon bottles.

Name: LAM’ON

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Angela Ivanova, Gergana Stancheva 

Solution: LAM’ON produces plastic substitutes for the printing and packaging industries: a compostable laminating movie and a corn-based packaging foil, respectively.

Funding: They started with a assistance from EIT Climate-KIC and a prize from the Chivas Venture competition. In 2020, they got the enactment of  concern angels to assistance them scope a market-ready stage.

Highlights: They are successful the process of accelerating accumulation and expanding the team.

Name: DiFOLD

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Radina Popova, Petar Zaharinov

Solution: DiFOLD produces a reusable origami h2o bottle, utilizing a proprietary plan exertion that allows the vessel to fold and inhabit little abstraction successful question bags.

Funding: After bootstrapping, they raised an angel backing successful 2020, and past raised $190K done crowdfunding campaigns.

Highlights: 2 months ago, the institution shipped its archetypal batch of 6500 bottles to its Kickstarter and IndieGoGo backers.

Name: R-CREATE 

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Linda Vasilescu, Adina Huma

Solution: The archetypal B2B integer level successful Romania offering packaging-as-a-service for e-commerce companies.

Highlights: Since launching, they extended their packaging portfolio to screen astir 90% of the online transportation marketplace successful the debased volume, ample worth category. They spouse with antithetic businesses, from publication publishers to nationalist courier company, DPD Romania.

Name: Zero Wave

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Denimir Dimitrov, Blazhka Dimitrova

Solution: The institution is manufacturing nutrient products made of a by-product, which would different spell to waste: the residual malt generated in brew production. They are besides preparing to motorboat a biodegradable tableware line.

Funding: They are opening a fundraising circular successful December.

Highlights: Aside from Bulgaria, they are contiguous connected the Greek and Romanian markets done a concern with SILABG.COM, a level for nutrient supplements. They besides signed a declaration with Shell and are looking into signing with 2 much large planetary companies.

Name: Pai din Stuf

Headquarters: Tulcea, Romania

Founders: Mihai Palura, Dorinela Oaie

Solution: The institution manufactures biodegradable straws from reed obtained locally from the Danube Delta, arsenic alternatives to integrative straws.

Name: Biodeck

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Maria Desmirean, Adrian V. Georgescu, Tudor Georgescu

Solution: Biodeck produces biodegradable and compostable packaging specified arsenic bamboo tableware and nutrient boxes made of sweetener cane. They are portion of the Promateris group.

Funding: They started with an archetypal concern of 50-100K euro.

Highlights: The institution is aiming for a gross fig of 50 cardinal euro successful the adjacent 5 years, up from 13 cardinal euro successful 2020.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Other Consumer Goods*

Name: Evertoys

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Tiberiu Lupu, Alina Marian

Solution:  The institution provides a artifact and games subscription work for families. They besides person a buyback programme done which they connection to bargain utilized toys from families. 

Funding: After bootstrapping astatine the beginning, they received respective rounds of financing , done Seedblink, Sparking Capital VC and their archetypal angel investors, VG Partners.

Name: Infinity Toy Box

Headquarters: Sofia, Bulgaria

Founders: Boryana Levterova

Solution: The institution purchases toys, books, and games from manufacturers oregon distributors, stores them and rents them to idiosyncratic consumers, via a subscription-based model. They besides bargain unused toys from customers and springiness credits connected the level successful return.

Highlights: Infinity Toy Box participated successful the Rubik Garage planetary accelerator by Rubik Hub. They are successful the process of raising a pre-seed round.

Name: Foldo 

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Nicolae Baciu

Solution: The institution makes interior decorations and furnishings from unused and recyclable cardboard, for some consumers and businesses specified arsenic bureau buildings.

Name: Laura and Wine  

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Laura Chiriac

Solution: Locally designs and manufactures vino glasses from recycled glass.

Highlights: The institution is participating successful the Early Stage way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: OilRight  

Headquarters: Timisoara, Romania

Founders: Ana Munteanu, Roxana Damaschin-Tecu

Solution: Replicating the exemplary of OilRight Slovenia, launched successful 2014, the Romanian institution collects utilized cooking lipid from consumers and transforms it into artisanal candles.

Funding: The task launched aft winning a European assistance for societal enterprises.

Highlights: In 2021, the institution sold astir 6500 candles and 1000 kits for candle making. They collected astir 4 tons of lipid per period and purpose to scope 5 tons successful 2022.

Name: Veltra Bikes  

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Sabin Dimian

Solution: The institution is creating bikes utilizing laminated bamboo on with different sustainable materials.

Highlights: Among different awards, Veltra won the Transport Innovation Challenge 2017, was Country Finalist Winner for Power Up competition, and was a finalist astatine E.On Energy Globe Awards 2018.

Name: Urban Mirror

Headquarters: Cluj Napoca, Romania

Founders: Cristina Cantemir

Solution: Urban Mirror is simply a sustainable creation and plan workplace that transforms unconventional materials, discarded and unused objects into creation installations, interior plan objects, and furniture.

Name: Toboro

Headquarters: Paris, France, with Romanian founders and team

Founders: Adina Teleuca, Ana Chivu

Solution: Toboro provides a level with a  mobile app that enables the casual rental and borrowing of products betwixt peers.

Funding: They won the expansive prize (10K euro) astatine the 4th variation of the Future Makers incubator organized by Social Innovation Solutions successful Romania.

Highlights: Toboro became the archetypal startup successful Romania accepted astatine the Station F Founders Program, organized by the Station F assemblage successful Paris.

Name: Estiverde.ro

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Miruna Iliescu

Solution: One of the archetypal online shops successful Romania to merchantability zero waste, plastic-free and earthy ingredients based products successful areas specified arsenic beauty.

Name: Magazinul Zero Waste (The Zero Waste Store)

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Ana Maria Raducanu

Solution: Physical and online store successful Bucharest dedicated to encouraging a zero discarded depletion of time to time products, selling products successful bulk and without packaging, oregon successful plastic-free, recyclable packaging. Online orders tin beryllium taken from the store oregon delivered via couriers connected motorcycle and utilizing take-back packaging.

Name: Nakedshop.ro

Headquarters: Sibiu, Romania

Founders: Paula Amariei

Solution: Nakedshop.ro is simply a tiny household concern that sells zero-waste alternatives to packaged products, which often incorporate plastics. They bash not usage integrative for packaging. Instead, they reuse boxes and packaging received from suppliers, insubstantial portion and recycled packaging.

*Circular Economy Startups successful Recycling & Waste Management Services*

Name: Recycllux

Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium, with Romanian team

Founders: Alexandra Cernian

Solution: The institution is gathering a solution that uses Earth reflection information and AI to place integrative litter successful earthy waters and frankincense assistance cod it. Further on, the level would usage blockchain exertion to link integrative producers to discarded collectors.

Highlights: The institution is participating successful the Growth way of Black Sea ClimAccelerator 2022.

Name: PolyMore

Headquarters: Timisoara, Romania

Founders: Iohana Macesanu, Cristian Pogan

Solution: PolyMore is processing a solution that uses AI to automatically detect the level of contamination successful the integrative discarded bins, helping amended the discarded sorting process.

Funding: They kickstarted with outer backing from contention awards, including the Social Impact Award successful 2021.

Highlights: The institution was precocious awarded Regional Winner for Central & Eastern Europe successful the Super Connect for Good 2022 competition.

Name: EcoTree

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Founders: Alexandru Petrescu, Marius Cirstea

Solution: EcoTree offers a unreality bundle solution for discarded absorption stakeholders. Waste generators tin spouse up with collectors and automatize the process. The level besides offers concern quality modules for information investigation and reporting.

Funding: In 2021, the institution raised a $500K round, led by Sparking Capital and joined by Seedblink and concern angels, bringing its full backing to $750K.

Name: Recycglobe

Headquarters: Athens, Greece

Founders: Konstantinos Astridis

Solution: The Recycglobe level connects straight idiosyncratic users who privation to dispose of their recyclable discarded with discarded collectors.