Market-leading Berlin-based consumer-tech subscription/rental platform Grover has just announced that it has secured $330 million in equity and debt funding. With this investment, the company attained unicorn status as its valuation surpassed $1 billion.
Oversubscribed funding round!
The oversubscribed Series B funding round was led by climate tech investor Energy Impact Partners and joined by others, including Co-Investor Partners, Korelya Capital, Mirae Asset-LG Electronics New Growth Fund and existing investors Viola Fintech, Assurant and coparion. The round involves $220 million in debt financing from Fasanara Capital. Furthermore, Media funds German Media Pool and SevenVentures joined the round.
With the new funding, Grover will accelerate its mission to democratise access to consumer tech, thereby bringing the circular economy for electronics to new countries. Also, it plans to grow its subscriber base in existing markets, including Germany, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and the USA. In 2021, Grover opened a base in Miami and focuses on the US, which is an important market for the company. It has ambitious plans to expand in the market and will hire over 100 people to its team. Currently, the company has 450 employees all over the world.
Michael Cassau, Grover’s Founder and CEO: “With Grover, we are building the global leader in consumer-tech subscriptions. The tech rental movement is a major worldwide societal shift, one that will transform how we access and use technology to be more flexible and sustainable. We see players from all sides of the market getting ready to join this phenomenal new market segment with extraordinary growth and profit opportunities ahead. We are proud to be the leading pioneer in this new $100 billion+ market.”
Nazo Moosa, Managing Partner at Energy Impact Partners said: “We believe Grover will reinvent society’s relationship with consumer tech, and as a result allow us to continue using the products we need while minimizing harm to our planet. Our investment in Grover is part of a mission to help scale start-ups from all over the world who have the ability to advance the transition to a more sustainable future, and we look forward to working closely with Grover as they move into this next exciting phase.”
Circular approach to consumer electronics
Founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau, Grover’s mission is to create the most innovative ways for everyone to get the tech they want. Subscribers can access a wide range of over 3,000 tech products, including smartphones, laptops, virtual reality (VR) gear, wearables and smart home appliances on a flexible monthly rental basis. The average product will be circulated to at least four different users over several years.
In the past twelve months, the company launched the Grover Card in the US to enter into the embedded finance market. It witnessed 2x growth in the ARR in the past two years.
Grover’s subscription service allows its users to keep, switch, buy, or return products depending on their individual needs and budget. Rentals are available in various markets via the Grover website or its online and offline partner network, including Europe’s leading electronics retail group, MediaMarktSaturn.
Being a pioneer in bringing the circular economy to electronics, Grover helps rent out tech products to several users across their life cycle and allows maximum value to be extracted from each product and reduces e-waste. It keeps e-waste out of landfill and valuable materials in circulation. It has succeeded in its subscription model, which is imperative to build a net zero world.
The record holding product of Grover is a GoPro, which has been circulated 27 times. Currently, the company has 500,000 items in its inventory, covering the entire consumer electronics spectrum.
In March 2022, German employee communications startup Staffbase also hit the unicorn startup with $115M Series E round.
