Amsterdam-headquartered VonWood, an innovative digital trading platform for wood, has grabbed €2.7 million in investment. The funds came from investors such as Peak (that closed €150 million and invested Channable and Seatti), Dutch Founders Fund, Keen and a number of strategic partners.
Growth plans ahead
VonWood intends to use the investment to accelerate the growth and development of the platform in 2023 and make the wood market accessible to everyone.
“The timber industry is fragmented with little understanding of origin, quality and working conditions. Businesses that buy timber on a large scale have limited control over the supply and therefore run the risk of ceasing their production. Sawmills, on the other hand, have little insight into demand, so they produce on the basis of an estimate, often resulting in a surplus or shortage of stock. By directly connecting supply and demand, we want to remove those risks,” said David de Jong, founder and CEO of VonWood.
“You need guts to digitize an old market, but it also requires platform-thinking to organize processes more efficiently. VonWood has what it takes to modernise the timber trade using data-driven technology,” said Johan van Mil, co-founder Peak
Peak co-founder Johan van Mil: “You need guts to digitize an old market, but it also requires platform-thinking to organise processes more efficiently. VonWood has what it takes to modernise the timber trade using data-driven technology.”
Investor Dutch Founders Fund and co-founder of Just Eat, Laurens Groenendijk said, “Wood is crucial in construction, but most buyers do not have direct access to the source: the sawmill. VonWood is now changing that. We believe in the team, the product and of course the sustainable impact they make.”
“VonWood has turned the timber market upside down in a short period of time. We are convinced that VonWood can make a major contribution to making the trade in wood more sustainable and more transparent. We look forward to this journey”, said Robert Verwaayen, partner at Keen.
Brings timber trade online
VonWood was founded in May 2022 by Favid de Jong and Minck Hermans to bring wood buyers and sellers together with the new online trading platform, without intermediaries. This makes processes smarter and more sustainable. The online trading process is completely transparent and makes purchasing timber cheaper. This way more people can work with wood.
Despite being one of the oldest materials we use to shape our environment, wood is also one of the most future-proof building materials available. Wood is much more sustainable than building materials such as concrete or steel. With natural building materials such as wood, CO2 emissions from construction can be reduced.
VonWood provides insight into the origin, the quality and sustainability of the wood. In addition to the conventional replanting of FSC-approved wood, they additionally compensate for every transaction on the platform by planting new trees.
