Danish founders Caroline Chalmer and Mie Marie Ejdrup‘s startup Finematter, a London-based startup in the jewelry industry, has successfully raised €2.6 million in its seed round. The funding comes from a group of notable investors, including Heini Zachariassen (Vivino) and Christine de Wendel (Zalando/Sunday), among others. Finematter’s platform connects customers with over 150 independent jewelers, offering services like ordering, repair, remodeling, and recycling of real jewelry. The company emphasizes sustainability and circularity, with each jewelry transaction accompanied by a digital certificate tracking its life cycle. This funding will enable Finematter to expand its platform and further its mission of promoting eco-friendly and transparent practices in the jewelry industry.
Finematter is an online marketplace connecting customers with over 150 of the world’s leading independent jewellers. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in London, UK, the company empowers customers to order, repair, remodel, and recycle real jewellery, giving them access to work with the world’s most skilled jewellers, all vetted by Finematter. Committed to circular principles, all jewellery transacted through the platform is issued with a digital certificate, documenting the full life-cycle of a piece of jewellery and enabling circularity. The company looks forward to building on this momentum to drive positive change and make the world of real jewellery more inclusive, transparent, and environmentally responsible.
Renowned tech founders and industry veterans exclusively backed the round, sharing Finematter’s vision of promoting circularity and transparency in the jewellery market. The seed round counts contributions from distinguished angel investors such as Heini Zachariassen (Vivino), Christine de Wendel (Zalando/Sunday), Jeppe Rindom (Pleo), Dino Patti (Playdead/Jumpship), Peder Micheal Pruzan-Jørgensen (Pandora’s Sustainability board), and participation from existing shareholder Heartcore Capital – with 46% of investors being female. Their support not only brings substantial financial backing to Finematter but also bolsters the company’s position with invaluable expertise from seasoned experts.
“We are absolutely thrilled and grateful to be backed by such an incredible group of investors. They, as we do, believe that we have a unique opportunity to create a category-defining company, which can make a difference for the many thousands of independent creatives in the jewellery industry, as well as a blueprint for a truly circular business model,” said Caroline Chalmer, Founder & CEO of Finematter. “This funding will enable us to further develop our platform, expand our network of jewellers, and create a lasting impact on the circularity of the jewellery space.”
The successful closure of this seed round comes at a critical time when investments in B2C start-ups have faced a significant decline, down by more than 60% compared to last year. Despite this drop, Finematter attracted funding due to its extraordinary collection of leading jewellers in the €327bn industry, and their truly circular solution at the core of their model.
Remarkably, gold, a primary material in jewellery production, is infinitely recyclable without any loss of quality, yet less than one-third of the global gold supply is currently recycled. Finematter aims to change this narrative and promote a sustainable approach to jewellery consumption and production.
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