Cerqular, which just closed a $1 million pre-seed financing round, wants to build an e-commerce platform for “version two of shopping,” co-founder and CEO David Friedrichs told the Morning Brew newsletter.
A pre-seed round is a funding round that brings in a small initial investment (often under $1.5 million), doesn’t create Series A stock, and has no institutional investors. This is among the first rounds of funding a young company will receive, generally while the company is young and working to gain traction. Cerqular, in this case, has only been around since 2020 and received about $1 million for the funding round.
This investment will go toward upgrading the company’s platform to support and expand the e-seller’s ecosystem of sustainable goods — apparel, beauty, grocery, and much more. It’s Cerqular’s mission to support firms selling products that come with clear “end-of-life solutions” (like upcycling, recycling, and resale options), carbon-neutral shipping, and other green aspects. After showing serious growth upon opening its U.S.-based website last year, Cerqular’s success shows that there’s demand for a digital place to sell green goods.
According to Ecotextile News, the funding round was led by Green Space Investments, a sustainability focused fund seeking to enable green tech that’s supported by several strategic angel investors. Cerqular fits Green Space’s profile as an environmentally conscious company with an executed plan that shows potential for massive expansion. Cerqular has grown to over 135 verified brands selling more than 50,000 products in just one year.
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This profusion of vendors goes toward Cerqular’s mission to make sustainable shopping more accessible and affordable. The company’s definition of ‘sustainable’ includes organic, vegan, and eco-friendly goods.
“We believe in sustainable products — to us, that means they’re things made without harm to animals, natural resources, or other people just like us — both now and tomorrow,” Cerqular states in its company description. “We’ve checked them all one by one and poured a lot of time and energy into making sure they care about the planet just as much as we do.”
Ecotextile News reports that Cerqular also partners with Sendle, an Australian courier providing carbon-neutral shipping service by connecting consumers with local sellers, thus further reducing the environmental impact of online shopping.
“We connect the dots at every touchpoint of a product’s lifecycle,” Cerqular CEO David Friedrichs told Morning Brew. “The power of change really lies in our spending dollars.”
In addition to devoting its new capital to upgrading its platform, Cerqular has already opened the next round of financing to continue catalyzing development plans and creating a more sustainable shopping experience.
“Our goal is to make sustainable shopping the norm – no longer will it have to be expensive or inconvenient.”
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