The European electronics distributor ELKO Group, one of Europe’s largest players, is significantly accelerating its presence in recommerce and refurbished electronics by acquiring a majority stake in Renewed, a company that has built a strong recommerce platform.
Founded in 2019, Renewed set out to create a more sustainable electronics market by giving used devices a second life. Led by CEO and majority owner Benjamin Kibebe, the company has grown rapidly, establishing itself as a leading player in the Swedish recommerce sector. Its business model includes both D2C sales through its own webshop and B2B partnerships with insurance companies, telecom operators, and other professional clients.
“From the beginning, we have worked hard to build a scalable and sustainable business. We have grown using our own resources, making smart decisions to scale quickly without external capital. However, bringing in a strategic partner like ELKO gives us significantly greater opportunities and resources to accelerate our growth and expand our international presence”
Benjamin Kibebe, CEO and Founder of Renewed
A structured process with Merge at the helm
Finding the right buyer was a crucial part of Renewed’s growth strategy. Merge was engaged to lead the transaction process and identify a partner that could contribute both resources and industry expertise.
“Merge has been an invaluable partner throughout the process. Their understanding of our business and the recommerce market, combined with their structured approach and extensive network, allowed us to find a perfect match in ELKO Group”
Benjamin Kibebe, CEO and Founder of Renewed
The recommerce sector is attractive, with many investors making significant moves into the space in recent years. As the market continues to grow rapidly on a global scale, more consumers are realising that choosing refurbished electronics benefits both the environment and their wallet
ELKO enters the recommerce market
For ELKO, the acquisition of Renewed represents a strategic expansion into the rapidly growing recommerce market. With a strong presence in Europe and a well-established distribution platform, ELKO sees great potential in broadening its offering and strengthening its sustainability focus.
“While recommerce growth is consistently outpacing new device sales over several years now, we see that it brings increasing complexity to our channel partners, requiring a specialist know-how to ensure that this segment demonstrates solid performance. The story of Renewed – growing bootstrapped and creating innovative and scalable offerings to market-leading Nordic players is, in our view, a perfect recipe to be expanded across ELKO’s existing geography and beyond. We see that the combination of ELKO’s infrastructure and market reach with Renewed’s know-how and ambition will enable our partners to become successful recommerce market participants”
Svens Dinsdorfs, CEO of ELKO Group
A bright future for Renewed and recommerce
With ELKO as its new majority owner, Renewed is entering an exciting new phase with expanded opportunities to grow into new markets and further develop its business model. The focus remains on strengthening its offerings for both consumers and corporate clients while continuing to drive the recommerce market forward.
At Merge, we are proud to have played a role in this strategic transaction and look forward to following Renewed’s continued expansion alongside ELKO. If you are interested in exploring how Merge can help your company find the right strategic partner, we welcome you to reach out for an initial discussion.
