FEATURE
Philippine startup Humble helps companies bring items back into circularity
sent to their network of B2B buyers and recyclers . This allows Humble to ensure all items find new life either as consumer products or through wholesale sourcing with business partners .
Humble Sustainability , a circular economy startup from the Philippines , closed its seed round led by Seedstars International Ventures and with participation from iSeed Ventures , an early stage VC in San Francisco , and angel investors like Alan Wong , co-founder of Ula , as well as Sagar Achanta , who has held product leadership roles at Amazon , Booking . com and Disney +. Fresh funding will enable Humble to continue bringing companies ’ excess inventory back into circularity through its technology services .
Humble helps some of the largest e-commerce , logistics and retail companies in the Philippines make their returns and excess inventory the hero , while extracting high value from the items for their clients .
With a vision to create a community where any item can be brought back into circularity by anyone , Humble ’ s advocacy of “ circular living ” reduces waste from both ends , by preventing items from being disposed of and decreasing demand for the production of new items . As Humble continues to grow , it hopes to become a leader in circular economy and sustainability in the Philippines , with initiatives in mind like carbon footprint tracking , innovation grants and raw materials extraction .
Leading Humble ’ s seed round was Seedstars International Ventures , a seed-stage venture fund dedicated to emerging and frontier markets . Notable investors also participated in the round , including iSeed Ventures and known international figures such as Alan Wong , who is the co-founder of Ula ( backed by Jeff Bezos , Sequoia & Tencent ); Sagar Achanta , ex-product leader at Amazon , Booking . com and Disney +; and Paco Sandejas and Richard Eldridge , some of the Philippines ’ top strategic investors and serial entrepreneurs , among others .
The problem of unused and wasted inventory is a major issue to people , planet , and profit . It is estimated that e-commerce companies alone lose up to USD1 trillion from returns , which are often stocked up in warehouses to eventually be disposed of or incinerated . This equates to a significant amount of waste sent to landfills , such as the 2 billion tons disposed of in 2021 . Unfortunately , sustainable and tech-driven opportunities to access options that offer high revenue recovery remain limited . With the estimated value of waste-to-wealth initiatives at USD4.9 trillion by 2030 , Humble ’ s position to establish a circular economy in the Philippines is critical .
To address this problem , Humble uses two main channels to bring items back into circularity - the high quality items are sold on their e-commerce platform , Thrift by Humble , while everything else is
Thrift , an extension of Humble ’ s initial brand , was launched in October 2021 with the objective of providing consumers with a sustainable alternative to e-commerce . The online marketplace allows consumers to shop for products that contribute to a circular lifestyle without sacrificing quality all the while being competitively priced .
One of the company ’ s first clients was the local logistics company , Ninjavan , who observed that unused items were taking up precious space in their warehouse . After finalizing discussions , the two parties settled on terms , including the revenue share Ninjavan would get after working with Humble . What started out as a pilot of high-value electronics eventually snowballed into 4 batches of thousands of items being brought back into circularity , all while offering up to 5 times the revenue recovery as other similar options . The partnership has grown into an ongoing partnership for Humble to assist with Ninjavan ’ s value recovery . It is Humble ’ s hope that their services will be able to help even more companies like Ninjavan , hoping to bring assets like returns , unsold inventory or aging items back into circularity .
The business that has been quietly and humbly ( pun intended !) building has now burst onto the scene as yet another exciting startup emerging from the Philippines , which is a testament to the team ’ s commitment to circular living and sustainability . With the impressive growth that ’ s taken place and the experienced team being assembled , Humble aims to lead the charge in making sustainability a part of everyone ’ s lives from personal to commercial .
By Rianna Bengzon Rianna Bengzon is the current Research and Development Associate Manager of Humble Sustainability , leading Humble ’ s impact-centered efforts , focused on communications , education , and sustainability .
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