Egypt-based Acasia Angels invests in Greek startup Swaplanet

Egypt-based Acasia Angels has joined the €485,000 ($529,000) pre-Seed funding spherical within the Greece-based retail attire swap platform Swaplanet, together with different buyers, together with Genesis Ventures, Zeno Capital (Helidoni Basis), Hellenic Enterprise Angels Community.

Established by Egyptian Sherif Barakat and his cofounders Helena Stamou and Jimmy Nicolaides, Swaplanet goals to save lots of 15 million kg of CO2, equal to 800,000 bushes, and a pair of.6 billion litres of water, which quantities to about 240,000 households, in 2026 alone. “Our position begins from the second a human is born, creating constructive habits that may accompany them all through their lives: sharing what’s not wanted with different people and decreasing their environmental footprint from day one,” CEO and Founding father of Swaplanet Barakat mentioned.

“Plastics are accountable for 6% of CO2 emissions, whereas textile is accountable for 10%. Textiles are additionally accountable for producing 20% of wastewater world wide,” Barakat defined. “We intention to construct a community of environmentally-conscious residents, and we’re wanting ahead to leveraging Acasia Angels’ experience on go-to-market technique, monetary and fundraising administration, and market enlargement all through our journey.”

Launched in 2021, Swaplanet permits dad and mom to swap, move on and promote the garments that their infants and youngsters have outgrown, decreasing the carbon footprint of households by eliminating textile waste and rising entry to good high quality clothes. Youngsters want a recurring and costly provide of clothes, and there’s no simple solution to get better the sum of money spent on gadgets that they instantly develop out of. Moreover, storing barely used garments creates muddle and is environmentally unsustainable, whereas one other individual on the market might be utilizing the clothes gadgets as an alternative. The identical extends to kids’s books, toys, and tools, all of which have brief helpful lives, and will probably be out there to swap on the platform. At present, Swaplanet operates solely in Greece.

The newly-raised funding will go in the direction of increasing Swaplanet’s attain throughout Greece, buying new clients and growing the platform. 

At this time, Swaplanet obtained 100,000 items of clothes from 2,000 dad and mom in Greece, of which 50% had been accepted and a 3rd had been resold. Some 60% of consumers have even made a second order.

“Reused clothes is the quickest rising sub-segment in trend, which is already a fast-growing trade,” Non-Govt Chairman of Acasia Group Hossam Allam mentioned. “Each pair of denims makes use of as much as 8,000 litres of water in its manufacturing cycle. Therefore, the environmental influence of Swaplanet is huge due to the quantity of CO2 and water saved. Moreover, it serves these affected by the worldwide price of residing disaster, by offering high-quality clothes gadgets in change for gadgets households already personal, however don’t essentially want anymore.”

Swaplanet had beforehand raised €100,000 from Suppose Greater Capital in Might 2021. 

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