Summary

Tulu is challenging the overwhelming bias customers tend to have in favor of ownership of goods. To encourage a sharing economy and rental, the company provides modular rental units for buildings, offering high-quality household items like vacuum cleaners, home theater projectors, printers and other common items. The company aims to shift consumption habits, and has launched primarily in apartment buildings around the country. This model works particularly well in models having shared living space such as apartments or office buildings. (Source) Given that each item will be used again and again, repair is built into the culture of the company. Furthermore, the company partners with companies including Hoover, Bosch and Dremel to provide tools for rental. Crucially, large groups of users repeatedly engage with the products, building brand recognition and loyalty for the product makers. The company currently operates across 26 cities in the US, Europe and the UK, and is also making a mark on university campuses like Columbia and Emory. (Source)

Story

Tulu was founded in 2018 by architect Yishai Lehavi and environmental entrepreneur Yael Shemer. Shemer and Levai met in 2018 at an accelerator at MIT. Taking their different backgrounds in architectural design and environmental entrepreneurship, and combining Shemer’s approach to alternative consumption and Lehavi’s background in the built environment, Tulu was formed. (Source)

Pic credit: Greenbiz(right) and Student Experience (top)