Berlin-based Grover, a consumer tech subscriptions startup, has announced that it has secured €60M in an oversubscribed Series B round of funding. The round follows Grover’s strong growth in 2020 wherein it witnessed a 2.5 times increase in business as consumers flocked to the company’s flexible rental service.
Since its inception in 2015, the company has raised around €350M in equity and debt financing from investors including Samsung, Commerzbank, and Global Founders Capital.
The company had last raised €250M in a funding round in January 2020.
Transaction breakup
The round is made up of €45M from equity investors and €15M in venture debt financing. Investors in the round are a combination of existing and new investors.
New investors in the round were led by Jonathan Schneider at private equity firm JMS Capital-Everglen, with participation from Viola Fintech, Assurant Ventures, as well as a number of founders and angel investors from Europe and North America. Existing investors included coparion, Augmentum Fintech, Circularity Capital, Seedcamp, and Samsung Next, among others.
The €15M venture debt portion of the round was issued by European growth debt provider Kreos Capital.
Grover was advised on the financing round by Osborne Clarke and Jefferies.
Rent the technology you want instead of buying
Grover is a technology rental platform that is on a mission to break the barrier between ownership and usage in order to give people more freedom to access technology. The company claims its rental model is sustainable and circulates tech products so that they’re used for a longer period instead of being stored away in drawers.
Since its inception, the platform has reached more than 800,000 registered users.
This customer value proposition proved strong during the Covid-19 pandemic, where technology gained greater significance in people’s lives, consumers shopped more mindfully and sought out flexible access options to help them stay in control of spending.
With Grover, subscribers get access to a wide range of over 3,000 tech products, including smartphones, laptops, virtual reality (VR) gear, and wearables on a flexible monthly rental basis. Grover’s service allows its users to keep, switch, buy, or return products depending on their individual needs and budget.
During the pandemic, Grover also experienced record demand, closing out the year with 2.5 times year-over-year growth, net revenues of €37M for the fiscal year, and over 4,000 metric tons of CO2 saved due to device recirculation.
The year 2020 also saw Grover achieve €60M in annual recurring revenue and become profitable on EBITDA-level for the first time.
Use of funds
The raised capital will be used by Grover to increase market penetration, advance product innovation, and accelerate international expansion. In addition, the company will use the funds to double down its core purpose of giving people a flexible, sustainable, and financially healthy way of accessing tech, with the aim of tripling its subscriptions to a total of 450,000 by the end of 2021.
Speaking on the development, Michael Cassau, CEO & Founder of Grover, says, “The fresh funding allows us to bring these possibilities to even more people across the world. It enables us to double down on creating an unparalleled customer experience for our subscribers and to push the boundaries of the most innovative ways for people and businesses to access and enjoy technology.”
He further adds, “The strong support from our investors confirms not only the important value our service brings to people but also Grover’s vast growth potential. We’re still just scratching the surface of a €1T global market.”
Grover’s growth plans for 2021
The company plans to further scale up its core markets – Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands – as well as roll out its service in new markets, including Spain and the US.
Advancing product innovations, including the launch of a flat-rate tech subscription, an embedded financial service, and an enhanced business customer offering. Expanding its product portfolio into new categories like connected health and fitness devices, consumer robots, and smart appliances.
Investing in top talents and team development to drive company growth. This includes the recent addition of Michael Kostadinovich (ex Better.com) to Grover’s executive team, who took up his post as Chief Technology Officer on 1st April 2021.
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