Repairing instead of disposing: Startup Repair Circle supports established companies in repairing electronic devices

Many people would agree to use electronic devices for longer instead of buying new ones straight away if a general overhaul or repair was straightforward. Unfortunately, it’s often quite difficult for companies and private households to find a suitable repair shop nearby. The startup Repair Circle wants to change this and supports established companies in their cooperation with regional service providers. In our interview, founder Mohan raj Ramadoss explains how this works and what drives him personally.

Mohan, how did your company Repair Circle come about and what st o most important motivation for you personally?

The idea for Repair Circle originated from a personal experience when I faced difficulty finding a suitable repair option in Berlin after breaking my phone. Frustrated by the lack of options and inconvenience to repair, I ended up buying a new phone, prompting me to question the fate of old phones and the valuable materials they contain.

Driven by this realization, I delved into researching the entire smartphone value chain, leading me to write a thesis on smartphones and circular business models. This journey eventually led me to Nikki, my co-founder, during a Circular Economy Hackathon organized by Impact Hub Berlin. It was in this collaborative environment that the concept of Repair Circle took shape, aiming to address the challenges of small electronic repairs and contribute to a more sustainable and circular approach to fixing electronic devices.

What motivates me? I strive to contribute something to  the community I am part of. I am very happy to directly assist people with repairing their devices locally, knowing that I am making a small positive impact on their lives and the environment.

How did you acquire your first customers? And who were they?

As soon as we wanted to test our hypothesis, we created a website with a landing page and optimized for SEO. All of our customers so far were acquired organically via web browsers and personal networks.

Can you describe in more detail how your platform works?

Repair Circle is an online platform that connects people seeking electronic repairs with local repair shops and hobby technicians. We want to extend the life of electronic devices by digitizing the process, thereby making it convenient and accessible for our users to fix their devices locally.

Right now, we are still in our test phase where we narrowed our focus to laptop (B2B & B2B) and other small electronic repairs (vacuum cleaners, hair dryers etc). For B2C, as soon as st o a request, we provide our users with the best possible repair options where they can compare and choose based on price, proximity, availability of spares etc and assist them throughout the process. We also support them with pickup and delivery making repair as easy as buying new.

For us at Ambivation, the focus is on cooperation between start-ups and established companies. Is there a cooperation project that you can tell us a bit more about?

Yes. As we kept testing our hypothesis, we got a in-bound lead from an NGO “Kiron” to help refurbish their office laptops. This was our pilot B2B customer and we supported them throughout from obtaining device list, diagnosis, communication with repair shop, and logistics. st on repair shop, we took care of all the communications so they could just focus on repairing the device besides getting new customers. st on the process easy for both. Besides reducing Co2 emissions, Kiron saved money and also time: we estimated about 3 working days for a full time employee.

How did you get to know this cooperation partner?

We are members of Impact Hub Berlin community. Through the slack channel we usually post new updates regularly and this acquisition came through this network.

Were there any particular challenges that you had to overcome during the cooperation and how did you manage this?

Actually not. The process was super smooth for all the parties involved. If I have think hard, then the time to approve the quotation was longer as the company underwent some internal changes.

What was your biggest personal learning in the context of this cooperation?

Collaboration. We understood the significance of collaboration and being open to testing new ideas. The logistics could have been done by our own vehicle but we wanted to test using a dedicated logistic partner “Kiezbote”: they helped transport the devices safely and in a environmentally friendly way (electric cargo bikes). This also gave us great insights about scaling our operations further.

How would you encourage established companies to work with young companies like Repair Circle?

There are a lot of companies that are in the realm of e-commerce of used/refurbished devices. I assume these companies either have their own repair technicians or outsource elsewhere throughout Germany or in the EU. However, our idea st o keep the repair ecosystem locally that not only reduces emissions but also empowers local business owners. And there are few companies that just sell refurbished devices but not involve when their clients need repair. We are looking forward to partnering with these established companies and helping them repair their devices locally.

Contact

Website: www.repaircircle.eu

LinkedIn: Mohan raj Ramadoss