Why we Invested: Wiserentr

The way we use our consumer electronics today is outdated and not fit for today’s world. The production, use and disposal of electronics are resource intensive activities that result in significant environmental and climate impacts. The magnitude of these impacts depends very much on consumption patterns and how long products are used for.

Smartphones are the obvious starting place. Smartphones came to market in the late 1990’s and gained mass popularity in 2007 when the iPhone was invented by Apple. Globally, over 1.5 billion smartphones are sold annually. They are often replaced before they are broken. The most common reasons for replacing a smartphone, on average after less than two years, are that consumers want to have the latest model, marking-induced obsolescence or because the existing phone is not functioning properly.

This is why we are excited to announce that we are leading Wiserentr’s €1.6 million pre seed round. Their mission is to transition consumer consumption patterns of electronic devices away from single use and towards circularity via an embedded renting model. We believe that increasing product lifetime and improving ‘circularity’ are essential steps towards reducing environmental impacts from electronics, whilst offering consumers a better financial deal for the devices they need and want.

Wiserentr are taking an embedded renting approach by partnering with retailers across southern Europe in the first instance and distributing their products via a B2B2C model. The embedded finance opportunity in this segment is especially exciting, with insurance, service and repair, collection and recycle services throughout the rental cycles being provided through a combination of Wiserentr and partnerships with mobile phone insurers, SPB insurance and repair services. Merchants who sell consumer electronics across Europe are increasingly realising the importance of offering more sustainable usage options to their customers. This is the void that Wiserentr is looking to fill.

The team building Wiserentr has a strong combination of market expertise, operational ability and most importantly, fundamentally believe they can drive the change required to alter our consumption habits for the better.

Carlos, the Founder and CEO, knows what it takes to build a financial services startup, having previously founded and led businesses in both the Banking as a Service (BaaS) space and the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) space. It was this operational expertise that convinced us that Carlos had the skill set to build a category leading business starting in Spain. His co-founders; Beatriz as COO and Alvaro as CTO complete the founding team.

We at Anthemis in partnership with BBVA are excited to back such a mission driven team and look forward to supporting them on their journey. Vamos!