Name: Grover
Sector: Product as a Service
Pros: By signing up to the service, users have access to all the most innovative technology through a pay-as-you-go system
Characteristics: Through its website and partners Grover offers gadgets and technology that customers can use for however long they want, through monthly, quarterly or annual subscriptions
Whether you want to keep up with the latest tech, try a smartphone before buying it or use a GoPro whilst on holiday, Grover, a Berlin-based start-up, can offer access to a wide range of electronic gadgets. Grover offers a product-as-a-service subscription, which allows users to avoid unnecessary purchases.
At the moment, the service is only available in Germany. Customers can register for a subscription either online or at partner stores like Media Markt and Saturn.
Once users have paid for their first month, they receive the product within two or three days. “There is no deposit required, in fact Grover covers 90% of any repair costs in case of damage,” explains Thomas Antonioli, the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
With subscriptions that start at € 4.90 a month, users have access to projectors, headphones, VR sets and videogames equipment for any desired amount of time before returning them.
All products are still property of the company, but the advantages for users are clear: access to gadgets and technologies, freedom of choice and full flexibility in the use, exchange, purchase and return of the products.
Grover was founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau, a former Investment Professional at Goldman Sachs who was fascinated by the possible crossovers between ownership and experience. The company is on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 list, and, with 70 employees and annual growth rates of 20% it is demonstrating how even in the electronics sector it is possible to separate access to from possession of goods. The company is aiming to expand to Europe and the US, in 2018 it closed off a 37 million euro round of investments and received recently a further €20 million asset-backed debt financing facility. A clear sign that electronics as a service can be a very successful business model.