One of the biggest hurdles in the transformation toward a circular economy is the lack of transparency in often globally stretching supply chains. It makes it very difficult to make verifiable sustainability claims. Furthermore, it makes the reuse, recycling or upcycling of products at the end of their life inefficient and unprofitable, if not impossible. The Hague Tech-based Circularise identified this problem and decided to step forward and build software solutions that help bring transparency in supply chains. Their solutions bring a circular economy at scale a large step closer to reality and are gaining traction among the worlds largest brands. A recent capital injection of €11 million will accelerate their growth and positive impact on our planet even further.
The Circularise journey began after the company’s founders Meshba Shabur and Jordi de Vos visited a number of recyclers in the Netherlands, only to discover that many of the resources we send there end up being either incinerated or dumped on landfills. They also found that the reason for this is that recyclers don’t know what’s inside all these products and at which quality and quantity.
Benefiting from The Hague’s business ecosystem
Their participation in the YES!Delft programme was instrumental to the startup in its early days and helped the team explore different business frameworks and find paying customers. “In our case, this was arguably the most challenging time for our business, because there was no specific demand to work with digital product passports. Also, our focus on the chemicals and plastics industry, which is by nature a very conservative industry, didn’t make life easier for us,” says Igor Konstantinos, head of Marketing at Circularise.
“The Hague’s heritage as the international city of peace and justice and the city’s investments in the impact business ecosystem, has also attracted impact investors such as 4Impact, which is one of the investors we selected to partner with in our latest investment round.” Igor Konstantinov, Head of Marketing at Circularise
“We are very proud to see impact companies such as Circularise grow here, embedded in the impact business community. As these companies grow, so does their positive impact. In this case they are bringing a circular economy at global scale a significant step further. That makes me hopeful and excited about the future.” Coos Santing, Programme Manager at Impact City for the municipality of The Hague
Circularise is nominated for the “Haagse Parel” in 2024. This prize is for companies in The Hague that make a difference in the field of circulair business.
Source and more information:
Zestee 