refurbed is One Step Closer to Becoming Austria's Next Unicron Startup

I was working in a startup in Shanghai, so I had my first real startup job in China.

Kilian Kaminski, Founder refurbed

Executive Summary

Learn about how refurbed, an innovative startup, could be the next Austrian unicorn. Learn more about their goal of providing pre-owned gadgets & tech at reasonable prices! Refurbed originally started as a marketplace where large companies can sell their refurbished electronics so that they don’t need to throw them away, think laptops and cell phones that are replaced. Now they offer a much wider range of products, from hand-picked refurbishers. Learn more in our interview.

Our goal is to be everywhere in Europe, as a mid-term strategy. Maybe also global in the future.

Kilian Kaminski, Founder refurbed

EU Startups Summit

This interview was recorded outside of the EU Startups Summit 2023 on April 20th in Barcelona. Thank you EU Startups for the great event.

Kilian is the founder of Vienna, Austria-based soonicorn refurbed. A soonicorn is a startup, that is expected to become a unicorn soon. He is also a Forbes 30 under 30 and from Germany one of Capital’s 40 under 40. Kilian is originally from Hamburg but has been working in Brisbane, Australia as a marketing and brand manager in Germany and at a startup in Shanghai, China. He even got to meet Pink and Jennifer Lopez during their tours in Australia. After all those positions he joined Amazon as a key account manager and program lead for their certified refurbished marketplace in Germany. Leaving this position to found his marketplace for refurbished electronics in Austria, called refurbed. Kilian is one of three founders of refurbed.

The Startup

Refurbed originally started as a marketplace where large companies can sell their refurbished electronics so that they don’t need to throw them away, think laptops and cell phones that are replaced. The company does not refurbish the devices, but they hand-pick the refurbishers on the platform. On average only two components are replaced during the refurbishment process. The marketplace originally was started for cell phones and notebooks, but now offers a much wider range of products, e.g. household electronics like a Thermomix, tablets, or smartwatches. Now even original producers are selling refurbished products on the platform.

Our goal is to be profitable at the end of the year [2023], which looks quite promising now. So we don’t need external investors, but we are open to talk.

Kilian Kaminski, Founder refurbed

Venture Capital Funding

Refurbed is funded with more than 70 m US$, at the time of the interview, with backing from 20 investors including Kreos Capital, Alpha Associates, Seven Ventures, Hermes GPE, C4 Ventures, Expon Capital, Bonsai Partners, Evli Growth Partners, All Iron Ventures. They raised their first funding round in August 2017 and their most recent Series B funding in August 2021. The company is open to talk to new investors.

All Links and Show Notes

Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/refurbed-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-austrias-next-unicron-startup-startuprad-io-episode-381-e9dc216832ac