Publications
Publications
- October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
- HBS Case Collection
Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business
By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani
Abstract
In March 2023, Garry Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Chicago-based Rheaply, needed to demonstrate that Rheaply’s expanded vision could translate into building cash flows and metrics needed to raise a Series B and turn the business into a model for financial and environmental sustainability. The eight-year-old company had originally been founded as an asset exchange platform for surplus materials at university science laboratories. Over time, the company evolved well beyond its initial market and expanded into a circular economy marketplace where cities, enterprises, and academic institutions exchanged everything from lab equipment to furniture to building materials. Cooper needed to determine whether the strategic shift to sustainability was working, and what, if anything, needed to change.
Keywords
Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago
Citation
Koning, Rembrand, and Alicia Dadlani. "Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business." Harvard Business School Case 724-351, October 2023. (Revised November 2023.)