hey circle offers reusable shipping boxes and mailing bags with a deposit system and an IT solution. The company was able to secure 1.5 million euros in the current financing round. The new capital will be used to strengthen the sales and IT team.
The impact investor capacura is the lead investor in hey circle joined the company. Gateway Ventures, CK Venture, super angels, Brangs + Heinrich and other business angels are also involved. By 2028, hey circle aims to raise 80 million Replace disposable packaging with more environmentally friendly shipping packaging. Because with a hey circle box, up to 94 per cent of waste and three quarters of CO2-emissions compared to disposable cardboard.
Since January 2024, the management team of Doris Diebold and Morris Kurz has been expanded to include Rebecca Steinke as COO. Her task is to ensure Strategic development and expansion of hey circle operations and logistics to create the best conditions for the growth of the young company. In doing so, it will tackle one of the core challenges of the circular economy: The development of a reusable reverse logistics network. Rebecca Steinke comes from e-commerce giant Amazon, where she spent five years in several management roles in the logistics sector.
Strong customers
hey circle already has 30 customers such as Drykorn and Austrian Post and is running test projects with well-known customers such as Trigema. In addition to end customer shipping, the Returnable shipping solution for business customers, Intralogistics, store replenishment, click & collect, rental and repair services, refrigerated food and medicine shipping. The monthly rental costs of hey circle shipping packaging are comparable to the purchase price of a new disposable carton. The IT solution also enables Downstream deposit and ensures the required high return rate.
„We are delighted to have investors at our side who not only support us financially, but also with a wide range of expertise and who share our vision for a sustainable mail order business. We will use the fresh capital to drive the growth of hey circle.“
Doris Diebold, founder and CEO hey circle
With 237 kilograms of packaging waste per person per year (2021 figure, Eurostat), Germany is the biggest producer of packaging waste. Second largest waste producer. In absolute figures, we are the sad European champion with 19.7 million tonnes of packaging waste. More than 4.5 billion parcel shipments per year in Germany contribute around 1.5 million tonnes of waste and 3 million tonnes of CO₂ -emissions contribute to this. A bevh survey also shows that consumers want a green shipping solution for online retail.
„We promise our partners that they can invest in the best start-ups with us and make the world a little better as a result. That's why hey circle, with its system of reusable packaging and sophisticated IT solution, is a perfect addition to our portfolio.“
Dr Ingo Dahm, Managing Director of capacura GmbH
Source: hey circle
