Right at the beginning of their pitch, Hey Circle founders Doris Diebold and Morris Kurz explained their vision of making online shipping waste-free. Their reusable shipping system could rid digital commerce of waste. German online retail alone loses the area of 3,600 football fields of forest annually. The system offers robust, reusable, and foldable boxes and bags that can be sent back and forth between retailers and customers up to 50 times, thus minimizing waste and CO2 emissions.
The packaging is rented to online shops, whose customers can then decide for themselves whether they want to use the reusable shipping solution for a usage fee. A deposit of 12 euros is intended to guarantee that customers will definitely return the reusable box to the retailers. Retailers pay a rental fee of 75 cents per month for each box. The associated IT solution is intended to enable not only integration into the online shop but also CO2 tracking for each individual package. To differentiate itself from competitors entering the market, Hey Circle has also filed three patents for the design.
The founders offered 550,000 euros of the startup 10 percent of the company shares. That the demanded sum could deter investors was Diebold quite aware:
"The crucial point could be that we're already a bit further along with our startup, have great potential, and are therefore entering the market with a valuation that's somewhat higher than some other startups are asking for. We hope the lions can follow us, recognize the potential, and the groundwork we've already done."
The two founders were particularly hoping that Ralf Dümmel and Janna Ensthaler, who have investment experience and focus on greentech, would be able to get “a great investor package.”
Hey Circle receives approval from the entire jury
In fact, the lions were immediately impressed by the reusable solution and unanimously praised Hey Circle's significant impact. Dagmar Wöhrl praised both the idea and the pitch, but declined to invest because she is already invested in another startup for sustainable shipping solutions. Nils Glagau and Tilmann Schulz withdrew due to the high valuation with still manageable revenue and the risks posed by competition in the market. Ralf Dümmel was impressed by the product, but also expressed doubts about further development, which is why he refused to invest.
“I would say today, either you won’t exist in three years or you’ll be worth half a billion.”
Although Ensthaler, the lioness who had the dream, pointed out that the actual CO2 savings from the shipping boxes could still be optimized, she was nevertheless willing to invest. She offered the desired sum but demanded 25 percent from the company.
After a brief consultation, Diebold and Kurz countered with a 12.5 percent offer. Ensthaler then reduced his stake from 25 to 20 percent, but still demanded twice as many shares as the founders had originally wanted to sell. Diebold and Kurz were unwilling to accept this difference and rejected the deal. Ensthaler was nevertheless conciliatory:
“I think you will definitely go your own way, but unfortunately not with me.”
