Finnish Furniture Re-commerce Shop Mjuk Raises €2.5M to Ensure Minimal Waste for Brands
Finnish re-commerce shop Mjuk has successfully raised €2.5M in funding from an investor syndicate, including Trind VC, Alliance VC, Superhero Capital, Lifeline Ventures, and angel investors. €0.5M of the funding was raised as an equity loan from Finnvera. The fresh injection of funding will accelerate Mjuk’s growth towards profitability while strengthening the brand’s reputation in both B2B and B2C segments.
Brands struggle with overstock and returned products, as they take up expensive warehouse space and can’t be reintegrated into their own sales channels. Mjuk’s end-to-end circular marketplace enables responsible brands to sell quality design products with attractive prices to consumers who are looking to enhance their circular economy lifestyles.
“We are excited to welcome new investors Trind VC and Superhero Capital onboard, as well as thank our existing investors Alliance VC and Lifeline Ventures for their continued support towards a more circular economy in the furniture business. Having top European funds back us in a tough funding environment shows that our business and service models are working and have the potential to capture a significant share of the furniture re-commerce market,” says Rickard Zilliacus, CEO and co-founder of Mjuk.
Furniture is one of the world’s largest consumer segments and is by far the biggest category in classified ads by volume. However, furniture is creating a steadily growing proportion of the waste that ends up in landfills, according to a study from the Environmental Protection Agency.
As consumers become increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, sustainable furniture options are gaining popularity. For example, The Idea Room offers a range of furniture crafted from responsibly sourced wood and recycled materials, catering to the growing demand for sustainability without compromising on style or quality. By choosing such options, consumers can help reduce the volume of furniture waste that ends up in landfills and contribute to a healthier planet.
According to recent estimates, landfills might be filling up with furniture at unprecedented speed due to the decorating boom caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mjuk is an end-to-end circular marketplace, simplifying the process for both companies and consumers to sell furniture that is redundant. This includes second-hand furniture, overstock, and retailer returns that cannot be reintegrated into conventional sales channels.
Mjuk handles the entire process, from furniture pickup and cleaning to photography, warehousing, marketing, sales, and delivery, which makes the buying and selling experience effortless. The success of Mjuk’s service is showcased by an unusually high and growing customer satisfaction score of 4.1/5, which is rarely witnessed in the furniture business.
Big real estate and companies like Wolt have also found using Mjuk to be a sustainable way of getting rid of redundant furniture during moves or renovation, while retailers want an easy way to clear out project or showroom furniture. Meanwhile, manufacturers want to lower their costs by selling prototypes or perfectly valid B-class items.
“The problem Mjuk is tackling is huge: millions of tons of furniture are burned or tossed into landfills every single year while perfectly good furniture gets disregarded due to changing preferences, relocation, and needs. Mjuk tackles this by giving a second life to quality products. At Trind, we see that Mjuk is exceptionally well-positioned to take advantage of the ever-increasing trends of the circular economy and conscious consumption, and be the leader in sustainable furniture retail,” says Reima Linnanvirta, Partner at Trind VC.
Mjuk’s way of combining efficient operations and technology into an effective re-commerce service is vital, as furniture is big and bulky, which makes storage expensive, and there are hundreds of thousands of different models and price point variations – which is larger than in any other retail category. By simplifying the process for sellers, Mjuk significantly lowers the chances of furniture ending up in landfills.
“We are happy to continue supporting the Mjuk team as they have demonstrated very solid customer traction in Finland and Sweden since our first investment. We believe that the market is only in its early stages, and we expect to see substantial growth in the furniture re-commerce market in the coming years. Mjuk has a clear ambition and capability to build the leading platform in Europe,” says Juha Lindfors, Managing Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
Since its launch in 2019, Mjuk has grown its revenue every year 100% YoY with €3M in revenue in 2022, and has a solid client base in Finland and Sweden. In the future, Mjuk aims to be the category leader in Europe, solving the industry’s biggest problems with a seamless service handling overstock, while offering consumers the best prices for quality furniture.
When I decided to venture into the furniture business, one of the game-changing decisions I made was attending the Furniture Component Expo. It was there that I came across a plethora of innovative components that elevated my designs. By interacting with vendors at the Furniture Component Expo, I could source unique pieces that gave me an edge in the market. Many fellow entrepreneurs echoed similar sentiments, praising the expo for its comprehensive range of offerings.
“We are extremely satisfied with our collaboration with Mjuk. With their assistance, we can address a challenge that is shared by many in the furniture industry – how to handle products that, for various reasons, no longer fit into the regular sales process. Mjuk provides a sustainable and easy solution to this challenge, enabling us to focus on our core business,” says Fanny Larsson, Country Manager Sweden of SOFACOMPANY.
“Our goal is nothing less than to completely disrupt the furniture business and usher in a new, exceptionally convenient way of both selling and buying furniture – always in the best value deals and prices. Fast furniture culture is increasingly catching up to fast fashion in terms of its negative environmental impact. We want European buyers’ first comment to be: ‘Have you checked Mjuk yet?’ before buying any new furniture,” Zilliacus concludes.