Tech
Here’s the 8-slide pitch deck Grover, a startup that allows customers to subscribe to electronics like phones and e-scooters, used to raise $250 million
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- Consumer tech subscription startup Grover has raised $250 million in debt funding.
- The German company wants to keep devices in circulation longer and help tackle e-waste.
- The financing, in the form of an asset-backed facility, is from from London-based Fasanara Capital.
A startup that allows consumers to subscribe to electronics like phones and cameras has raised $250 million in fresh funds.
German-based Grover aims to reduce e-waste, and secured the funding through an asset-backed debt facility from London-based Fasanara Capital. The startup allows people to rent, swap, or return devices depending on their needs and budget, with monthly costs tied to each item. The sell for consumers is getting access to expensive devices without having to fork out.
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The cash will be used to buy additional electronics — ranging from virtual reality headsets to e-scooters — specifically for the US market, which Grover entered in September. A special-purpose entity, separate from the startup, will own the devices customers subscribe to.
“They [investors] have pure collateral just on the devices so there’s no exposure to the venture risk of Grover,” chief financial officer Thomas Antonioli said of the deal.
“Cameras and drones are typically more short-term, it’s something that somebody might rent for holiday or wedding to take great pictures, and computers and phones are a bit more long-term,” he added.
Customers across Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States currently have 300,000 devices to choose from, all of which were new when the startup purchased them and are refurbished between each rental until they break.
Grover, which could bolster its stockroom to 1.5 million devices with the last round, said its business model makes technology more affordable and flexible for consumers and keeps it in circulation longer.
Its existing customers are Gen Z and Millennials — “who have moved beyond the ownership paradigm in their mindset and have a higher awareness of sustainability” — but wider consumer attitudes around sustainability have also shifted, Antonioli said.
Sustainability ranks third on customers’ list of top priorities, coming after price and flexibility, he said. “That’s really encouraging.”
In Germany, Grover’s most mature market, the startup is piloting three devices for a monthly subscription of €99 ($110). It also recently launched an embedded finance offering with cashback and rewards in partnership with Visa and Solarisbank and hopes to expand this in the future.
Check out the pitch deck it used to raise the debt financing below.
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