B2B mobile device rental and service provider everphone raises $200 million

Berlin-based phone-as-a-service provider everphone has raised $200 million in a new funding round. The startup offers corporate clients a one-stop solution for the procurement, management, and integration of smartphones and tablets issued to employees. The funding will be used to further expand sales and marketing efforts at home in Europe, while the company also now looks to bring its offer to the US market as well. To date, the firm has raised just shy of €220 million.

Founded in 2016 by former CHECK24 managing board member Jan Dzulko, everphone essentially frees up the IT department from device fleet management, as all dealings are done directly between employees and the startup. This independent management ensures that all issued devices are in line with data protection guidelines and security requirements, as well as never having an overstock of devices simply gathering dust.

Dzulko also points to the circular economy as an upside to everphone’s offer, as each smartphone is taken out of service after its first two-year lifecycle, refurbished, and then reissued. In 2020 alone, worldwide, some 226 million smartphones were given a second life, thus saving over 13 million tonnes of CO2 from being introduced into the atmosphere, a number equivalent to the emissions of around 8.7 million combustion-based cars.

“The demand for our model is not only unabated, it is even increasing rapidly. The more companies understand that they should only use as many devices as they really need, the more we save the environment and valuable resources,” commented Dzulko. “My goal has always been for the circular economy to become widely accepted and we are doing our part. In short, I believe in using rather than owning.”

Everphone’s $200 million round was led by Cadence Growth Capital (CGC), with existing investors Deutsche Telekom, AlleyCorp and signals Venture Capital following on. How much of the funding is equity vs. debt is unclear, however, as the company notes that Deutsche Bank and the Phoenix Insurance Company provided loans within a warehouse financing facility.

“everphone is leading the way into the future. In order to be able to provide the young Berlin-based company with sufficient capital for rapid growth, and at the same time meet the very agile phone-as-a-service model, we jointly developed a customized hybrid financing solution,” stated Deutsche Banks’ Robin Cresswell, head of direct lending DACH.