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Kooky

Smart infrastructure for reusable food packaging

Kooky logo
21-100 employees
  • Retail
  • B2B
  • Enterprise
  • Food
  • Environmental
Escher Wyss, Zürich, ZH

Company mission

To provide the leading circular economy infrastructure to enable waste free consumption.

Our take

In Switzerland alone, 290 million disposable cups are thrown away each year. It’s a mountain of waste that Zurich-based start-up Kooky wants to put in the past with its reusable takeaway cup initiative.

Kooky’s beauty lies in its simplicity - they provide business with the cups, and install cup disposal spots (or Kooky boxes) all over town so when you’ve finished your coffee you just throw it away. The only difference is that Kooky retrieve and clean all those used cups to create a sustainable circular economy.

Kooky has done well in this Swiss cities where it’s launched, and is focussing on rolling out new cities and a rewards scheme in its app. It isn’t the only company of its kind though. Competitor Clubzero operates in Europe and America, and has partnered with JustEat as well piloting a home collection service for its own reusable packaging. But it’s a hotly-growing market, and if Kooky can make its mark now, we may be seeing a few more Kooky boxes popping up in the near future.

Kirsty headshot

Kirsty

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Benefits

  • We offer a modern work culture in an innovative environment with a strong team spirit
  • We have flexible working hours, with remote working

Company values

  • We do not do greenwashing
  • We deal with climate change in a professionally sound and honest manner
  • We want to show that it is possible to live more sustainably through the use of innovations and technical aids without having to restrict the quality of life of the individual

Funding (1 round)

Apr 2021

$6.4m

SEED

Total funding: $6.4m

Leadership

Dmytro Boguslavskyy

(Co-founder & CTO)

Prior to Kooky they founded Caesium, Sacoora and Circ. They are currently working as the Founder & CEO of Deepdive, and as a strategic advisor at PeekUp.de alongside their role at Kooky.

Maximilian Zott

(Co-founder)

Previously worked as the City Manager for München at Gorillas. They currently also work as the Founder of Be Support GmbH, and as an advisor at Plug In Festivals.

Torge Barkholtz

(Co-founder & CEO)

As well as Kooky, they work as the Head of Business Development & Partnerships DACH at Naki Power. They have previously worked as the Lead Business Development Advisor Germany at Enuu Ltd., the Director of Business Development at Techway GmbH, CEO at Prime Gastro AG, and the Head of Project Management at Käfer Schweiz AG.