"The Rounds," an environmentally-friendly and sustainable e-commerce platform, recently announced that it has raised $38 million in Series A funding, It was led by Annie Kadavy of Redpoint Ventures and Andrew Chen of Andreessen Horowitz, along with seed investors Construct Capital and First Round Capital. So far, the company has raised $42 million.
"The Rounds is an e-commerce platform for groceries that is environmentally sustainable. The Rounds use a "reverse logistics" model to make e-commerce greener and more efficient. The platform offers consumers about 150 products covering household goods, personal care, staple food, dry goods and more. After registering on the website, consumers can create a weekly restocking schedule. The system will send a text message to the user before delivery, reminding them to check the purchase order and add or remove items at any time."
In recent years, with the international calls for environmental protection and resource conservation, the requirements of the international market for product packaging are becoming more and more strict. According to Reportlinker, the global sustainable food packaging market is expected to grow from $196.26 billion in 2021 to $211.56 billion in 2022, a CAGR of 7.8%, and reach $28.01 billion in 2026. The compound annual growth rate over the period was 7.3 per cent. The food industry is exploring the new face of sustainable packaging amid a global call for sustainability, from reducing plastic bags to using paper straws and unlabeled bottles to reduce plastic.
Under "reverse logistics," The Rounds also collect empty bottles of goods for recycling when they are delivered. This regular recycling delivery mode can be used to purchase a variety of household goods, such as cleaning supplies, personal care products, as well as a variety of dry goods, staples, etc.
Currently, consumers can choose from more than 150 lifestyle items through The Rounds. On top of that, The Rounds has forged partnerships with local brands Bean2Bean Coffee, Kismet Bagels, Philly Nuts, Triangle Roasters and Vesper Bros. Foods, Provide more goods for consumers to choose from. This kind of distribution of goods can help reduce the use of unnecessary product packaging and alleviate environmental pollution problems. Uniquely, The Rounds are delivered in reusable shopping bags, and empty containers and bags are recycled.
For a fee, members of The Rounds pay $10 a month for individual items at prices comparable to those at big-box stores like costco. Not only does The Rounds not charge an annual fee, shipping fees or tips, but it also allows users to choose when they want their goods delivered.
In fact, this sustainable and recyclable method is also being explored in China. In the past, fresh milk was put in glass bottles, and the delivery man would collect the old bottles every morning. With the rise of e-commerce platforms, more and more people begin to choose regular procurement, and this way of collecting milk every day has been gradually replaced. However, from the perspective of sustainable development, it has to be said that it is worth learning and improving.
Giant Packaging believes that the packaging materials of sustainable packaging should be harmless to human body, organisms and the environment. Therefore, sustainable packaging is not only reflected in the material and use, but also the recycling after use is an important chain of sustainable development. As producers, we need to focus on environmental protection throughout the entire life cycle of packaging production, promote better recycling processes, more optimized supply chain traceability, and contribute to the formation of a mature sustainable closed loop disposal chain.
