Grover gets €41 million to take tech rental global

Berlin-based Grover, an electronics rental company and subscription service, secured new funding that is a mix of equity investors and debt capital. The €11 million equity is led by Augmentum Fintech, with support from existing investors coparion, Circularity Capital, Main Incubator (of Commerzbank Group), and Samsung Next. The €30 million debt is an addition to an existing deal with Varengold Bank, one of Germany’s major fintech banking partners.

Grover has brought the access-over-ownership trend to the consumer electronics market, offering monthly rental subscriptions for all sorts of devices. Partnerships with big brand retailers such as MediaMarktSaturn, Gravis, and Tchibo – and its 300,000 registered users online – are mere precursors to its next stage of growth. The company plans to be represented in thousands of European electronic retail stores by the end of 2020.

The fresh funding will help Grover both expand internationally and also expand its product range through new service offerings. The investment follows a 2018 Series A and brings the company’s total financing to over €100 million.

Michael Cassau, CEO and founder of Grover said: “I am delighted with the confidence of our investment partners in Grover's long-term business success. Our total funding amount is now in the three-digit million range, solidifying Grover’s position as a strong player in the German start-up ecosystem. This fresh funding will enable us to drive service and product innovation and bring Grover’s future-oriented rental service for consumer electronics to new and international customers beyond the German market."

Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech expressed his confidence in the company: “Grover is a classic fintech disruptor. Its growth reflects a growing consumer trend for continued access to the latest electronic products. Consumers are now less concerned with outright-ownership and more concerned to have the latest device. This leads to shorter ‘ownership’ cycles. The Grover solution, growing rapidly in Germany, allows consumers to rent the latest products, and to return them at the optimal time for the consumer. We believe this way of accessing technology ‘ownership’ will be a growing trend across Europe.”