Rheaply, a resource-sharing network that helps organizations recycle and source items, plans to further expand its platform with its latest acquisition.
The Chicago startup has acquired the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development, a materials marketplace that focuses on "upcycling" building materials waste from small businesses and government agencies.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Rheaply helps its clients sell, rent and donate items, including office furniture and many other items, they no longer need.
More than 50,000 items valued at $19 million have been upcycled through the platform, diverting more than 20 metric tons of waste from landfills, Rheaply says. Upcycling converts waste materials and old products into new products of higher quality and greater functionality.
The company closed a $20 million funding round in June, giving it more than $30 million in venture capital raised since it launched in 2016.
Rheaply CEO Garry Cooper, who founded the company while completing a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Northwestern University, said he wants to bring Rheaply to 50 cities by the end of 2024.
