Amsterdam-based VonWood, a digital trading platform for Wood, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €2.7M from Peak, Dutch Founders Fund, Keen, and several strategic partners.
The Dutch company says it aims to accelerate the platform’s growth and disrupt the traditional supply chain, making the wood market accessible to everyone.
What does VonWood solve?
According to the Dutch company, there are several intermediaries in the timber industry, primarily between the sawmill that cuts the tree into planks and the businesses that process the timber in their end products, such as importers, traders, agents, and others.
The intermediary trade drives up the price of wood, making the product more expensive than necessary.
“The timber industry is fragmented with little understanding of the origin, quality, and working conditions. As a result, businesses that buy timber on a large scale have limited control over the supply and therefore run the risk of ceasing their production. On the other hand, Sawmills have little insight into demand, so they produce based on an estimate, often resulting in a surplus or shortage of stock. By directly connecting supply and demand, we want to remove those risks,” says David de Jong, founder and CEO of VonWood.
Here’s where the Dutch company comes into play
VonWood: What you need to know
Founded by David de Jong and Minck Hermans in 2022, VonWood brings wood buyers and sellers together with a new online trading platform without intermediaries.
The company aims to make the online trading process completely transparent and cheaper.
Besides connecting buyers and sellers, VonWood provides insight into the wood’s origin, quality, and sustainability.
In addition to the conventional replanting of FSC-approved wood, the company also compensates for every platform transaction by planting new trees.
Investors
Keen Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that backs exceptional teams and fast-growing European tech companies from seed to Series B.
“VonWood has turned the timber market upside down in a short period. We are convinced that VonWood can significantly contribute to making the trade in wood more sustainable and transparent. We look forward to this journey”, says Robert Verwaayen, partner at Keen.
Peak is a seed-stage venture capital fund investing across Europe from its Amsterdam, Berlin, and Stockholm offices.
Peak co-founder Johan van Mil says “You need guts to digitise 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.”
Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) is an early-stage venture capital fund from Amsterdam started by the people behind WeTransfer, Just Eat, Treatwel,l and fonQ. DFF invests in B2B marketplaces and businesses built upon network effects, backing founders across Europe and the MENA region.
Investor at Dutch Founders Fund and co-founder of Just Eat, Laurens Groenendijk, says, “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 the sustainable impact they make.”