Sydney, Oct 17: With a tumultuous 24-months of global economic disruption, there is a new breed of entrepreneurs taking their seat at the table, and with them, they bring a wave of disruptive digitisation at the helm.
Plato was right, necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and with the world forcing our hand into accepting that the future really is digital, here’s one team of retail royalty slicing themselves off a piece of the digital innovation pie.
But, this time it’s a power play tapping into their share of the $7.96 billion dollar Australian sharing economy.
Enter Releaseit – a first marketplace for all things rental.
Leveraging off existing and future rental players and building a community-driven model that takes advantage of the global shift to re-commerce.
This is a rental marketplace that aims to disrupt retail consumerism on behalf of the planet.
Created by a team with the idea of acquiring more stuff at the expense of Mother Earth isn’t just old fashioned – it’s out of fashion.
That owning ‘things’ that don’t get used aren’t just wasteful, it’s harmful.
Those old consumerist rules are calling out to be broken and replaced with a circular economy in which we all buy less and rent more.
Fronting this venture are Co-Founders Peter Krideras and Stephen Kulmar, co-Founder of Click Frenzy and Founder of RetailOasis respectively.
“Seeing our vision come together has been one of the proudest moments for me professionally.
“Since we broached the concept with my son around the circular economy and why no one had embraced a true rental marketplace experience, working with our co-founder to research our customers and develop the model even further has been an amazing journey.
“We now have a team of world-class professionals to execute the vision and even though COVID has made times very difficult, our resilience and passion never wavered.
“Add to that an investor community that has backed our idea, we are confident of making a necessary change to the way we all consume products.
“Disrupting retail consumerism is one thing but leaving a legacy for future generations by addressing the impact we have on our planet and environment is long overdue,” Krideras said.
With ReleaseIt initial seed funding goal of $3 Million secured by RetailTech Capital, led by Director Jo Baker, the launch date is set for later in the year with Angel Investors such as Paul Greenberg already on board, closely followed by power-house of investors and advisors.
Releaseit will provide a valuable catalyst for connection and collaboration around asset sharing.
Drawing on the best of the circular economy and sustainable consumption.
It is a privilege to be a founding investor in this pivotal business and movement.
Designed to target audience segments composed of “The ‘Social’ Activist” and “Seasoned Lifestylers,” these customers are both passionate environmentalists, socially aware, tech-savvy online shoppers with large discretionary incomes.
A majority of these segments are Gen Y or Z.
Releaseit is targeting these key audiences who access rental goods so that they can secure access to in-demand brands or because they can experience more, not because they have to due to low
discretionary incomes.
Given their preference for experiences over ownership, they’re already frequently using existing share-economy businesses.
Post-launch, the team will make swift moves into Series A funding with emancipation from owning being the concepts North Star and sustainability being the payoff.
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