Today Paris-based startup Back Market, a global refurbished electronics marketplace, has announced a funding round of around €110 million from investors Goldman Sachs, Aglaé Ventures, and Eurazeo Growth, joining Daphni as backers of the startup.
On Back Market, consumers purchase electronics directly from certified sellers (now numbering 1,000 and growing) that refurbish, verify and offer a minimum 12-month warranty for all products, to meet the marketplace’s high quality standards. Focusing on high quality, the platform has built up customer trust as a safe and appealing alternative to buying new.
The eco-friendly side of Back Market has also not gone unnoticed. Its mission is to take advantage of the evolving landscape to carve a permanent place for itself as a leader in the electronics market as a whole, whilst also creating an easy-to-adopt means of combating the unfolding electronic waste crisis.
Founded in 2014, Back Market established a US presence in 2018 and currently also operates in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the UK and Austria. While Back Market intends to continue its expansion worldwide, the injected funds will be used to continue strengthening its position in existing markets with a core focus on the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
The startup also intends to invest heavily in quality control, ultimately growing its team by three times its current size. Funds will also be allocated to activities that solidify Back Market’s industry leadership: building a dedicated machine learning team to improve its algorithm, introducing new services around logistics and repair, as well as expanding on Back Market’s expertise to benefit its sellers (sourcing devices, spare parts, test protocols, R&D, etc.)
Thibaud Hug de Larauze, CEO and co-founder, Back Market: This fundraising is a signal of maturity, not only for Back Market, but also for the rapidly expanding refurbished industry. We have created a global brand and established a name that is not only synonymous with ‘refurbished’ but also with ‘quality’. With this round of funding, we are optimistic that we can reinforce our leadership in this market and have a lasting positive impact on consumers’ perceptions about refurbished devices.
via https://www.AiUpNow.com/ by contact@bcurdy.com, Khareem Sudlow
