Impact investors and crowdfunders unite to support Fairphone goals
The world’s first ethical, modular smartphone
This month, one of the EIT RawMaterials supported start-ups Fairphone was able to close a major round of investments totaling €7 million. The mission-aligned funding comes from existing Fairphone investors such as DOEN Participaties and PYMWYMIC, as well as new parties including the impact investors, PDENH, Quadia and the crowd investment of €2,5 million.
Additionally, Fairphone received €13 million in debt finance from creditors including the consortium of ABNAMRO and the Dutch Good Growth Fund. These investments, combined with the appointment of Fairphone’s new CEO, Eva Gouwens, will provide the social enterprise with a stable foundation to sustainably scale up its operations, research new products and business models and expand sales efforts in untapped European markets.
With the tremendous support of our community and investors, we exceeded our initial targets for this round and are in a very fortunate and stable position to take the next steps for our company and our mission to change the electronics industry from the inside.
Eva Gouwens, CEO at Fairphone
Fairphone creates positive social and environmental impact from the beginning to the end of a phone’s life cycle
Fairphone is a social enterprise that is building a movement for fairer electronics. By making a phone, the company is opening up the supply chain and creating new relationships between people and their products. The start-up is making a positive impact across the value chain in mining, design, manufacturing and life cycle, while expanding the market for products that put ethical values first. Together with its community, Fairphone is changing the way products are made.
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