Summary

Fairown has created a financial platform that lets any company offer products based on a subscription model, which is key to the Circular Economy. This has several advantages when viewed from the sustainability model: less waste and materials can be efficiently sequestered back by the company and re-used, refurbished or offered for resale. The company’s subscription service is sustainable and it manages product renewal cycles, which means that consumers can renew their products after a certain time. A customer could return an iPhone 2 years after the purchase and upgrade to a new one. The time of return is carefully planned to match the end of a product’s useful life cycle – the point where the first signs of depreciation kick in. The products are then collected and assessed as to whether the parts or the product itself can enter the secondary market, refurbished, repurposed or recycled. Most importantly, the number of products or parts of product that end up in landfill is vastly minimized or eliminated. (Source) On a more granular level, a deal is made with a consumer at the point of sale regarding how long the consumer with use the device and that a local lender with finance this plan. Fairown then provides the financial technology and manages produce renewal cycles, a local bank provides product financing and a brand or retailer sells the products to consumers.

Story

Co-founder Hendrik Roosna noticed that one-third of Apple customers in Scandinavia bought Apple products with a monthly payment plan. Having had a background in FinTech, Roosna, along with co-founder Taivo Turnpu zeroed in on the subscription model idea for a startup. The pair was accepted into Y Combinator and has since demonstrated a lot of growth.

Pic Credit: Fairown(right) and E-estonia (top)