Electronics renewal and refurbishment startup Qarmatek has raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding round led by GVFL (Gujarat Venture Finance Limited) and Caspian Debt.
Founded in 2011 by Krunal Shah and Arun Hattangadi, Qarmatek began as a B2B electronics repair and refurbishment partner for major device manufacturers. They started by repairing set-top boxes and their remote controls for OEMs.
Today, the startup repairs more than 200k devices in a month including mobile phones, laptops, televisions, fridges, washing machines, speakers, headphones and other products.
The freshly-raised capital will be used to fund the growth of its newly-made B2C refurbished and renewed electronics marketplace called MOBEX.
“200k devices, those are 200k devices that are not ending up in landfills or 200k devices that do not have to be replaced by brand new devices unnecessarily, saving precious and scarce resources,” said Krunal Shah in an interview with Inc42.
According to the United Nation’s global e-waste monitor, 53.6 Mn metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste was generated globally in 2019, a 21% increase in just five years. According to the same report, this number will reach 74 Mt by 2030.
E-waste is the fastest-growing domestic waste stream, fuelled by the rampant consumption and disposal of electronics that are beginning to last less and less due to issues with planned obsolescence and repairability issues.
Planned obsolescence is when manufacturers make sure an existing version of a product will become out-of-date or useless within a calculated time frame; this helps them maximise profitability as customers are forced to switch out their older product for a new one.
“Once your product goes out of warranty, it is expensive to get it repaired at an authorised repair store. MOBEX can help you there as well, with service that will have a quality equivalent to the OEMs,” said Shah, speaking about the multiple channels through which MOBEX will offer its repair services.
Last week, cloud-based waste management and processing startup Recykal had raised $22 Mn in a funding round led by Morgan Stanley India, with participation from Circulate Capital and some angel investors.
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