GEEV raises 3 million euros to become the first online object donation service
GEEV, the first app for donating items between individuals, with a million downloads, has completed a €3 million round of funding to further its development
GEEV, a platform for donating items between individuals which was launched in April 2017, has announced a €3 million round of funding, led by daphni, Omnes and BNP Paribas Développement. Several business angels, including Emmanuel Guyot, co-founder of Digitick, also participated in this first round of funding. Séverine Grégoire, founder of MesDocteurs and Monshowroom, joined the company’s board.
More than 600,000 items have already been given a second life
Thanks to a simple and fun service, “Geevers” can easily give and receive items for free in the proximity of their own homes. GEEV has had more than a million downloads and 600,000 items have been sold since the app. Available in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux, Nantes and Toulouse, GEEV has become an obvious alternative to selling, unnecessary storage and the proliferation of waste in the public space.
The idea was born out of the observations between two friends, tired of seeing so many objects daily abandoned on the capital’s pavements. In 2016 Hakim Baka and Florian Blanc set up, via a Facebook community group, a simple solution allowing its members to give their unused items to other interested people. The success was immediate and the community then rapidly spread to the four corners of France via the dedicated app GEEV.
“We are citizen entrepreneurs, certain of the possibility of improving our method of consumption, provided we have the right tools at our disposal. The French seem inclined towards reducing waste and thus offering a second life to their objects. GEEV is already proof that donation is a strong vector allowing people to participate while creating social link between users of the platform,” explains Hakim Baka, CEO and co-founder of GEEV.
Further development of the platform
Thanks to this fundraising, the founders of GEEV want to improve the functionality of the platform and strengthen its presence nationwide, before doing tests in major international cities. GEEV teams have also been strengthened to support growth and comprise 20 people. Finally, avenues are being studied to enable large groups to benefit from the platform’s popularity.
“The founders quickly attracted us with their ability to train a whole community around the reflex of donating objects, using digitalisation as a vector to accelerate this citizen commitment. We are proud to be backing them in their development,” adds Pierre-Yves Meerschman, co-founder of daphni.