Startup Buddy raises $1.4m for metal recyclables marketplace
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The news: B2B metal recyclables marketplace startup Buddy has raised $1.4 million from venture capital firm GD1.
The numbers: Buddy's platform, which connects buyers directly with sellers, has already onboarded buyers from 19 countries, spanning South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Dubai and Germany.
With buyers including Perth-based and Brisbane-based metal recyclers, Buddy aims to capture 820 million kilograms of scrap metal in Australia every year.
As the global demand for metal recyclables rises, the New Zealand startup wants its app to play a key role in the $348 billion metal recycling market's transition from manual to digital procurement processes. Buddy's marketplace solution aims to tap into the "billions of dollars" in metal trades that are currently being conducted using WhatsApp, email and spreadsheets.
The context: Buddy said it will launch its app to metal recyclers from North America, Australia and New Zealand from April 2024 onwards at two of the industry’s largest events – Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Convention and Exposition in the US, and Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) World Recycling Convention and Exhibition in Europe – where sellers will have an opportunity join the platform as a verified seller.
What they said: Buddy co-founder Lisa Kagan said: “Most companies use WhatsApp, email and spreadsheets as their trading tech stack to collectively trade hundreds of billions of dollars.
"The industry is missing out on the efficiencies and accuracy that comes with end-to-end process digitisation. What’s more, without comprehensive and integrous data sets, the industry has no basis to leverage the latest in technological advances such as machine learning and AI," she said.
Fellow co-founder Stuart Kagan added: “Most marketplaces out there are ‘managed’ — they anonymise both sides of the transaction, buying for as low as possible and selling for as high as possible. This doesn’t create a pathway for sellers and buyers to build relationships with their counterparties".
The source: Buddy media release
