The “zero-waste supermarket” Lyfa currently offers around 250 different products all completely waste-free in reusable packaging. With a strong focus on convenience, the start-up offers home delivery and collects empty packaging from customers during a subsequent delivery, meaning Lyfa’s customers can live waste-free with next to no effort. The company was founded 2019 in Basel by Michael May and Lewys Thomas.
Max Meister, General Partner at the Swiss Startup Group said “Lyfa convinced us because they cover two very strong trends. E-groceries and sustainability. In addition, the complementary and motivated founding team convinced us. Last but not least, we liked the compelling implementation of the MVP.”
Lyfa is a Rockstart AgriFood portfolio company and this funding round marks Rockstart’s second investment in the company. “The founders, Michael and Lewys, were able to showcase their abilities during and after the Rockstart AgriFood program and this gave us the confidence to invest a second time with strong new partners, the Swiss Startup Group”, commented Mark Durno, Managing Partner AgriFood, Rockstart. Rockstart AgriFood received more than 600 applications in the last three months and is planning to make new investments this summer. Rockstart AgriFood has invested in 20 startups since its launch in mid-2019, making the fund one of the most active AgriFood investors in the world.
Financing expansion
“Lyfa’s purpose is to make it simple, accessible and convenient for anyone to live waste-free. Since launching in 2020, we’ve made huge steps towards product-market fit and see this as the perfect time to build out our service by expanding our team and our infrastructure. Our aim is to reach operational profitability by the end of 2021 while also expanding out of Basel to Zürich and Bern”, explained Michael May, CEO and co-founder, Lyfa.
(Press release / SK)
Picture: Michael May (left), Lewys Thomas