We have become addicted to delivery. 59 million packages are shipped every day in the US, creating mountains of packaging and plastic waste piling up in our cities. Roads are not wide enough for all the delivery trucks we’ll need, apartment buildings have become distribution centers, landfills are overflowing, and there are already microplastics in our water. Consumers are well informed about these issues and clearly want more sustainable alternatives, without giving up convenience.
This challenge—making everyday sustainable choices effortless—is what inspired me to start The Rounds.
I’ve lived in city centers, in high-rise apartments, without a car for almost a decade. I became obsessed with solving this problem after seeing individual boxes with individually packaged products for me and my neighbors stacking up in the lobby and then doing the mental math on the volume of waste coming from every block in every neighborhood in the city. Worse, this situation is particularly absurd considering it’s often for “boring stuff” that we all use every day and will continue to use, so we have to keep a mental inventory of all these household, personal care, and pantry essentials to know (and not forget) what to restock when.
There had to be a better way for us to get the “boring stuff” we use every day.
That’s what we’re building at The Rounds, a psychic home manager to keep your home stocked, by refilling and delivering all the essentials and neighborhood favorites—from toilet paper to local coffee—without the packaging waste from cardboard boxes and single-use plastic. It’s all powered by our hyper-efficient, two-way (read: closed-loop) last-mile logistics network.
How The Rounds delivers (and refills)
Our zero-waste refill and delivery service lightens your load, lessens your carbon footprint, and clears some mental mess. We help keep your teeth clean, your pantry full, and your hair conditioned. All your regular recurring purchases, all the things you’d buy on Amazon’s Subscribe & Save (if it actually worked), the stuff that’s always at the bottom of your shopping cart at the grocery store every week. All while keeping Mother Earth top of mind. And we’re doing it one neighborhood at a time. So your goods are coming from around the block, not around the world. Because that’s the way it ought to be. Take Bean2Bean Coffee in Philadelphia: we source bulk beans fresh and direct from their roaster in reusable vats. Then we package those beans into our reusable containers and deliver them directly to your door.
We’re called The Rounds because we make the rounds to you and your neighbors on the same day every week. As a Member, you have a scheduled Refill Day when we drop off your fresh bundle of essentials and local neighborhood favorites in reusable containers and pick up your empties (yes, like a modern-day milkman). Together, we can end cardboard box guilt and keep single-use plastics out of our oceans.
More than 10k Members and $42M in new funding
This year, we’ve expanded to four markets (Philly, DC, Miami, and Atlanta) and our business has grown more than 10X in the last 12 months to over 10,000 Members.
Today, we’re excited to announce that we recently closed a $38M Series A led by Annie Kadavy at Redpoint Ventures and Andrew Chen at Andreesen Horowitz. This comes after raising a $4M seed led by Rachel Holt at Construct Capital and Hayley Barna at First Round Capital. This investment is an exciting moment for the company, but it’s also an important statement about the future of commerce and our planet. The future of last-mile logistics is not about getting Flamin’ Hot Cheetos delivered in 15 minutes at 1AM; the future is a sustainable two-way last mile.
The Rounds also recently won The Reusies “Enabling Technologies” award for most innovative reuse company. Look out for more new developments later this year and next. We’ve already kicked off a collaboration with BrightDrop, a tech startup created by GM, to explore and test different types of electric vehicles and delivery innovations. We’ll also be doubling down on our technology, making our prediction engine even better so our Members don’t have to think twice about managing all the stuff they need in their homes.
Check to see if we deliver in your neighborhood, and sign up using code SERIESA for a free first month of membership here.
If we don’t serve your neighborhood yet, you can follow along here for updates.
We’re also looking for the best talent on the planet across every function, from product and engineering to marketing and operations! Check out open roles at www.therounds.co/careers.
Cheers,
AT, Founder
