Merger looks to build a Nordic market leader in the next generation of circular tech for consumer packaging.
Finnish Kamupak is merging with Swedish competitor, impact tech startup &Repeat forming a Nordic market leader in circular packaging solutions. With the announced merger the new company will complete its market offerings and strengthen its capabilities to help the restaurant industry to meet the new upcoming EU regulation that is coming into force January 2024 in Sweden.
&Repeat has since the launch in December 2020 helped thousands of restaurants and foodservice players, in both Sweden and France, in the battle against packaging waste. During two and a half years of operation more than 2,5 million single-use packaging and 500 tons of CO2 emissions have been avoided as a result of the company’s innovative solutions. &Repeat has during the same period raised more than 60M SEK in venture capital from among others Alliance Venture and the French VC SuperCapital.
Kamupak is a Finnish startup focusing on takeout dining by helping organizations replace single-use takeaway packaging with reusables and make return and reuse effortless for consumers. Established in 2019, having +120 restaurant and event customers and thousands of loyal users. Kamupak’s RePaaS (reusable packaging as a service) is a turnkey solution for restaurants, cafés, events, venues, hotels, kiosks and other outlets offering take-away food and drinks. It’s mission is to reduce the world’s waste load with a unique digital deposit and borrow system for reusable take away packaging.
The new merged company will have more than 500 customers in Sweden and Finland including large brands such as Pressbyrån, Espressohouse, Wolt, Sodexo, Kespro and Picnic.
Leveraging AI and advanced RFID to provide a friction free experience
“After both companies have invested heavily into building a scalable tech platform, the new company will now have a strong focus on leveraging “next generation tech” to remove frictions for guests and simplify for all operators in the value chain,” said Ilkka Puikkonen, CEO of Kamupak. “We feel that the available solution on the market has a large improvement potential when it comes to providing simplicity and friction free experience to those who interact with the system. Our new strategy is to leverage AI and advanced RFID to provide a future proof and friction free experience for both consumers and takeaway operators.”
Preparing for the upcoming EU regulation – Sweden next
As of January 2024, in Sweden a new regulation will require restaurants to offer consumers the option to have their take-away food served in reusable packaging that can be returned back to the restaurant again for cleaning and reuse. The merger will position the new company as a clear market leader in the Swedish reuse market when the new regulation comes into force January 2024.
“With a new briz of regulation across EU memberstates ahead, the packaging industry stands on the brink of a transformation and we are just about to embark on this long journey, said Tor Espen Steinvik, CEO and co-founder of &Repeat. “Merging with Kamupak to create a strong Nordic player will strengthen us in the Swedish market and simultaneously also positioning us well to become a strong European player.”
”Those who will win the market are those who have the muscle and endurance to help develop solutions and products that work for the restaurant industry and we are convinced that we can do this better by joining forces,” added Puikkonen. “Our ambition is to build a clear Nordic market leader.”
“This will be a demanding restructuring for all industries that work towards the takeaway segment, a completely new value chain with associated infrastructure needs to be established and all parts of the value chain will be affected,” commented Iida Miettinen, Founder and chair of the board at Kamupak. “In order to get scale it will require that the industry find common solutions both in terms of collection, logistics and washing.”
Kamupak and &Repeat going forward
The two companies will integrate operations and assets and continue their business in both Sweden and Finland under existing brands. The CEO for the new company will be Ilkka Puikkonen, today the CEO of Kamupak. Tor Espen Steinvik, CEO and co-founder of &Repeat will continue in the company for a transitional period and then take on an advisory role in the new company. The details about the deal remain undisclosed according to an agreement between the parties.