The big fundraising never ends at the start of the year. After PayFit, Ankorstore and Qonto, it is the turn of the French unicorn of refurbished electronic products, Back Market, to obtain financing of 450 million euros to allow it to continue to grow in the refurbished market and to develop new services.
Thanks to this financing, Back Market is now worth 5 billion euros. This new fundraising, completed with Sprints Capital in particular, follows a round of funding of 276 million euros last May. It will hire more people and expand the already growing customer base that spans 16 markets and five regions. Back Market co-founder and CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze told ZDNet that one of the main goals for the company this year will be to increase brand awareness and the benefits of refurbished devices.
“Our goal is to make refurbished electronics the first choice for technology purchases,” he says. “The support and trust of these funds, along with our growing customer base, marks an important milestone in the Back Market journey, and more importantly, for the circular economy as a whole. “
Back Market claims 6 million customers
Thibaud Hug de Larauze underlines that refurbished devices represent a total of nearly 6% of the annual market for electronic devices. A proportion which tends to climb, especially since this sector is not reserved only for individuals, but also appeals more and more to the professionals, brought to equip themselves at their home and subjected to precise budgets. Back Market’s customer base has grown exponentially over the past few years, growing from 1.5 million in July 2019 to 5 million in 2021, and 6 million in 2022. “The circular economy of opportunity doesn’t is more of a concept, it is happening, ”says the CEO.
One of the important factors in the growth of the remanufactured electronics industry is consumer awareness of the environmental implications of electronic waste. According to Thibaud Hug de Larauze, only 3% of consumers used the second-hand market for ecological reasons five years ago. However, this figure has now risen to more than 25%.
Electronic waste reaches 50 million tonnes per year worldwide, according to the UN Environment Program, heavier than any airliner ever built. Thibaud Hug de Larauze estimates that in the next 10 years, the electronics market will be 50/50, which means that half of the electronic devices purchased will be new and the other half reconditioned. However, for this to materialize, companies must allow greater access to spare parts.
In France, regulations are evolving on this side. Since the 1er January 2022, the anti-waste law notably provides for new measures to facilitate the repair of laptops and smartphones. From now on, the producers of electronic devices have in particular the obligation to ensure the availability of certain spare parts of their products sold on the market, and thus to extend the lifespan of these products.