Circularity Capital announces successful sale of ZigZag Global

Circularity Capital, the specialist private equity firm supporting growth stage European SMEs in the circular economy, has announced the divestment of its portfolio company ZigZag Global Limited (“ZigZag”) to Global Blue Group (“Global Blue”), a leader in Tax-Free Shopping and Added Value Payment Services. 

ZigZag is a multi-award-winning SaaS platform enabling retailers to reduce the costs and waste associated with returns, whilst dramatically improving and simplifying the customer returns experience and speeding up the time to refund. ZigZag grades returned products and can consolidate, refurbish, locally redistribute, recycle or even resell stock internationally.

E-Commerce return volumes are growing at 10-20% per annum. In the US market alone, 2.5 million tons of returned goods end up in landfill, the equivalent of the volume of waste produced by 5 million Americans.

ZigZag reduces parcel journeys by up to 65% by identifying opportunities for the repacking and redistribution of returned products within the country of delivery, resulting in a measurable reduction in the wastage and carbon footprint associated with retail returns. ZigZag also reduces the cost and transit time of returns and has been proven to reduce customer related service enquiries by 40%.

Ian Nolan, founding partner at Circularity Capital, commented: “The rapid growth of fast fashion and online retail has led to a major sustainability challenge, with too many returned items ending up in landfill. ZigZag’s solution results in significant cost savings for retailers, a superior customer experience and a reduction in product wastage.

“We are proud to have supported the growth and internationalisation of ZigZag’s circular economy solution to date. Global Blue will be an ambitious new owner of ZigZag, with the global reach and resources further to accelerate the growth and impact of ZigZag.”

Al Gerrie, founder and CEO of ZigZag Global, added: “Circularity Capital’s insight, expertise and network have proven instrumental to our continued growth. The team’s strategic counsel and consultative approach has been helpful in a number of areas, including the further development of the sustainability benefits of our offering.”

For more information about ZigZag, visit www.zigzag.global. To find out more about Circularity Capital, visit www.circularitycapital.com. More information about Global Blue can be found at www.globalblue.com.