ImpactAlpha, December 5 – Brazil-based Repassa is an online platform that allows Brazilians to buy and sell lightly used clothes. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from São Paulo-based venture capital firm Redpoint eventures.
Redpoint eventures is not an impact investment firm; rather, it focuses on investing in companies capitalizing from Brazil’s fast growing online connectivity. Repassa meets this criteria by facilitating used clothing sales online. The company takes a 40% cut of each sale as a fee for warehousing and caring for sellers’ garments until they’re sold.
Repassa’s mission, however, is to curb the textile industry’s environmental impact by helping divert used clothing from landfills. It says that sales through its platform have helped divert 18.1 tons of clothing from landfills; it also tracks millions of liters of water saved (97.7 million) and CO2 emissions avoided (126.6 tons) from new textile processing. Repassa encourages sellers to purchase from its site as well by offering them a 10% discount.
Repassa joins a small number of other startups with similar environmental objectives that have recently raised investor capital. In September, Lithuania-based online retailer Vinted recently raised €50 million to connect buyers and sellers of used clothes worldwide, while eco-friendly t-shirt subscription company For Days closed a $2.8 million funding round in November.
