London-based DIEM is a circular economy-oriented fintech startup that lets customers sell their unwanted items to the firm and receive instant payments. The company has now bagged $5.5 million (nearly £4 million) seed funding in an oversubscribed round.
Gears up to expand user base
The investment round was led by Fasanara Capital, a UK based finance focused specialist fund, and supported by Chris Adelsbach, founder of Outrun Ventures and a notable investor in emergent winning fintechs. Additional investors included Andrea Molteni (early investor in Farfetch.com luxury marketplace), Ben Demiri (co-chairman at fashion tech PlatformE) and Nicholas Kirkwood (founder of the eponymous fashion brand).
DIEM will use the investment to boost its plans to expand its consumer base both in the UK and Europe.
Geri Cupi, founder, Diem said, “Diem’s mission is to empower consumers to value, unlock, and enjoy wealth they never knew they had. All of this while fuelling the circular economy and supporting the commitment to sustainability as our key value proposition. Diem makes it possible for capitalism and sustainability to co-exist.”
How does it work?
Diem offers users an account, a Visa debit card and money management tools. The firm differentiates itself with the feature a “cash out”. This feature lets users sell their unwanted items and get instant credit for the same.
With the DIEM app, customers can get a valuation for their unwanted goods in seconds. The products that can be sold include books, clothing, electronics, etc. If customers want to sell the unwanted items, then
DIEM buys these items directly and credits their account instantly.
Digital pawnbroker service
Customers of this startup can also send products to DIEM, which uses the same evaluation technology as the marketplaces such as eBay, Depop, etc. The company will resell the products to earn profit.
With its proprietary algorithm, DIEM can provide accurate market pricing for the items. It does this by monitoring and synthesising real-time reselling prices across each platform in the world.
For the customers in the eBay era, this service founded by Geri Cupi in 2020 is like a digital pawnbroker albeit the fact that they cannot buy back the goods they sold.
The post DIEM raises £4M: Fintech fuels circular economy with fast payments for unwanted items appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
