Company: Refurbed
Founder: Jürgen Riedl, Kilian Kaminski, and Peter Windischhofer
Website: https://www.refurbed.com/
Business: Refurbed is an online marketplace for refurbished mobile phones, tablets and laptops.
About Refurbed and Jürgen Riedl, Kilian Kaminski, and Peter Windischhofer
Refurbed’s founder, Peter, bought an iPhone via a website for secondhand products. Just a few weeks after his purchase, the phone died and, in the absence of a warranty, Peter had to pay the full cost of repairing his phone.
This is how the idea of refurbed was born: a platform for refurbished products that meet an ambitious set of criteria with regards to safety, quality and their warranty.
Refurbed is now the fastest-growing marketplace for refurbished products in the German-speaking markets. Their products are up to 40% cheaper and 100% more sustainable than buying new. Their products are restored using 40 separate steps, after which they function, look and feel brand-new.
The electronics industry is one of the largest industries in the world, and is responsible for a staggering amount of yearly CO2 emissions. The total annual carbon footprint of manufacturing mobile phones the carbon emissions of a small country within the same timeframe. This has been a huge contributor not only to climate change but also to waste. The most simple way to tackle this problem is to produce less, and to repair more.
Refurbed has already saved over 170 tons worth of electronic devices since they launched. This means they have managed to reduce the CO2 impact of their industry by 31,000 tons.
