Rockstart Alumnus Bundles Raises € 410k in Funding for Its New Sustainable Washing Concept
Rockstart alumnus Bundles raised € 300,000 from several angel and institutional investors including DOEN Foundation and Miele and € 110,000 in hardware financing for its innovative sustainable washing concept. The latter was invested through crowdfunding via geldvoorelkaar.nl in just 4 days.
Bundles was among nine other startups to be selected for Rockstart Accelerator Smart Energy program in 2014 and received funding, mentorship and office space in Amsterdam for 180 days. Marcel Peters founded his startup with the vision that energy resources conservation is the key to a more sustainable planet. He realized that consumers buy cheap household appliances that end up at the scrapheap too soon after the purchase, and that less and less people can afford to invest in quality appliances which offer better value for the consumer and consume less energy. His solution to this problem is a pay-for-use concept: instead of owning expensive equipment, Bundles allows consumers to pay for the actual usage on a monthly basis.
The first appliance that will be used in the new concept will be a Miele washing machine connected to the Internet through a smart energy meter. “Washing machines are appliances that are ideally suited for pay-for-use concepts, because a large part of the cost is determined by how one uses the appliance,” says Marcel. The price for the usage will vary from € 22.95 to € 26.95 per month depending on the number of laundry cycles. Collecting the data from the machine will result in improved performance at the lower cost and less energy consumption.
In the near future Marcel and his team are planning to use the power of the crowd to source ideas for more pay-for-use household appliances.
Photo: Marcel Peters, founder at Bundles.
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