We're excited to announce our investment in Renow, a Helsinki-based company solving one of e-commerce's biggest headaches: what to do with returned products. Instead of letting returned electronics gather dust in warehouses or end up in landfills, Renow's AI-powered platform automatically inspects, grades, and resells them—turning a cost center into a profitable, sustainable operation.
Greencode led Renow's €1.55 million seed round alongside Superhero Capital and Street Smart Capital. We're backing a company that transforms the broken returns process into a scalable circular economy solution.
"The circular economy is vital for reducing waste, and Renow addresses this by efficiently re-selling returned goods. With a strong focus on electronics and hard goods, Renow's deep supply-side integration and automated operations position it well for the rapidly growing recommerce market, particularly in the Nordics," says Petra Koivuvaara, Investment Manager at Greencode Ventures.
Founded by seasoned e-commerce veterans, Renow has built an AI-powered platform that automates the entire returns-to-resale process. When customers return products to retailers, Renow's technology takes over—using computer vision and machine learning to inspect items, grade their condition, and automatically list them for resale at optimal prices.
Their "virtual warehouse" approach means retailers don't need new infrastructure or staff training. Renow integrates directly into existing workflows, handling everything from inspection to customer delivery. For consumers, this creates access to high-quality, nearly-new products at significant discounts while extending product lifecycles.
The platform is already operational across 12 European markets, with early partnerships including major Nordic retailer CDON demonstrating strong market validation.
European retailers handle €75 billion worth of returns annually, while the second-hand goods market reaches €94 billion. Yet most returned items—especially electronics that are often in perfect condition—either sit in warehouses or get discarded because retailers lack efficient ways to process them.
This waste is becoming increasingly costly as new EU sustainability regulations require companies to report and reduce their environmental impact. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is pushing retailers to find circular solutions, but most lack the in-house capabilities to handle returns profitably.
Renow's focus on electronics is particularly smart. These high-value items have predictable resale demand and maintain strong margins in the secondary market. By capturing value early in the returns chain and eliminating intermediaries, Renow can offer competitive prices to consumers while delivering meaningful profits to retailers.
Renow's founding team brings exactly the right mix of e-commerce expertise and technical depth. CEO Kalle Koutajoki is a proven entrepreneur who previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at Verkkokauppa.com, Finland's largest online retailer, giving him deep insight into the returns challenge. Head of Product Antti Ijäs brings growth engineering experience from commerce and logistics startups, while CTO Hannes Junnila combines full-stack development skills with expertise in large-scale algorithmic solutions.
This combination of domain knowledge and technical capability shows in their results: Renow generated €368K in revenue in 2024—nearly 7.5× growth from 2023—with strong gross margins and positive Q4 EBITDA. Their clear hiring roadmap positions them to scale efficiently across additional European markets.
Renow delivers measurable environmental benefits while building a profitable business. Their platform reduces carbon emissions by roughly 50% per resold item compared to manufacturing new products. With over 4,400 items processed as of early 2025, they've already prevented an estimated 33 tons of CO₂ emissions.
At scale, Renow projects the potential to reduce up to 100,000 tons of CO₂ annually by 2032. By making circular commerce profitable and scalable, they're addressing both environmental urgency and business necessity.
With proven technology, strong early traction, and a clear expansion roadmap, Renow is ready to scale across Europe. This funding will accelerate their commercial team growth, deepen merchant integrations, and expand their AI capabilities to handle even more product categories.
At Greencode Ventures, we invest in companies that make sustainability profitable and scalable. Renow exemplifies this approach—transforming waste into value while building defensible technology moats. We're excited to support them as they establish the infrastructure for Europe's circular e-commerce future.
We are here to invest in and support startups making a difference. Get in touch: hello@greencode.vc