Finnish furniture marketplace brings circularity to the table

Lifeline Ventures , Superhero Capital and Trind VC were among those who participated in the round, seeking to make good on Mjuk’s promise of simplifying the furniture buying process for both businesses and consumers.

Mjuk’s offering consists of second-hand, overstock and returned furniture that cannot be integrated into conventional sales channels, with the startup handling everything from pickup to cleaning, storing, marketing, selling and delivering the items.

“Our goal is nothing less than to completely disrupt the furniture business and usher in a new, exceptionally convenient way of both selling and buying furniture – always [with] the best-value deals and prices,” declared Rickard Zilliacus, CEO of Mjuk.

Mjuk’s marketplace has been utilised by real estate companies clearing out redundant furniture during a move or renovation, retailers clearing out project or showroom furniture, and manufacturers clearing out prototypes and valid second-grade items.

Mjuk is thereby tackling an enormous problem, said Reima Linnanvirta, partner at Trind VC, which made a first-time investment in the company.

“Millions of tonnes of furniture are burned or tossed into landfills every single year while perfectly good furniture gets discarded due to changing preferences, relocation and needs. Mjuk tackles this by giving a second life to quality products,” he stated.

Furniture, indeed, is accounting for a steadily growing share of waste in landfills, according to statistics from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The statistics reveal an almost 100-per-cent increase in the amount of furniture and furnishing waste between 1990 and 2018, with over three-quarters of the waste still ending up in landfills.

There are concerns that the trend will accelerate significantly in the wake of the home decoration boom sparked by COVID-19.

Mjuk has doubled its revenue in each of its three full years of operation, posting a total of three million euros for 2022 on the back of its client base in Finland and Sweden. On the back of this funding round, which also included an equity loan from Finnvera, its aim is to become a category leader in Europe.

“Having top European funds back us in a tough funding environment shows that our business and service models are working and have the potential to capture a significant share of the furniture re-commerce market,” interpreted Zilliacus.