The Innsbruck startup “revitalyze” has developed a solution to recycle building materials. For this purpose, a platform was created that is intended to streamline the procurement process and become the central contact point for construction companies and project developers. “Offering sustainable alternatives to the construction industry and reducing disposal costs” is revitalyze’s vision – but that’s not all.
The problem, the solution and the background
Currently, around 90 percent of the materials generated in the construction industry are recycled in Austria. From a technical point of view, we often speak of downcycling because at the end of its life the material is only used as backfill material – “an inferior use of the materials,” says revitalyze CEO David Plaseller. Only 12 percent should be used as a high-quality replacement for primary raw materials. For this reason, revitalyze would like to support existing owners in using the resource potential of their building stock by recording reusable materials in the system and, in the next step, networking them with product manufacturers.
“We are driving the decarbonization of the construction industry”
The target group is diverse and includes property developers, asset managers, construction companies, cities and municipalities. The resulting advantages are lower disposal costs for “used materials” and at the same time the CO2 emissions of existing owners are reduced, thereby doing something good for the environment. “We support manufacturers in increasing the recycled content in their production and thus drive the decarbonization of the industry. A win-win situation for both sides,” says Plaseller, one of the three founders and responsible for marketing, strategy and financing at revitalyze. In the next step, the secondary materials, which should be of high quality, are scouted at a competitive price via the revitalyze platform.
revitalyze relies on the revenue sharing model
The startup from Innsbruck plans to collect a commission for all materials successfully provided. This is intended to keep entry barriers for customers such as steel builders, wood processors or building material producers very low. Registration on the platform is free, as is the tendering of material requirements. This is intended to ensure that interested parties can procure secondary raw materials on their own terms. In the next few years, revitalyze wants to position itself as the market leader in the DACH region. Great opportunities are expected, as the changed EU taxonomy, life cycle assessment and new recycling regulations pose major challenges for the construction industry. “Companies will move towards purchasing sustainable materials because there will be no alternatives,” Plaseller is certain.
Yes, there are no investors (yet).
There are no investors on board (yet). Some funding and prize money totaling 150,000 euros have already been raised for this purpose – including the newly secured preseed funding from the Austria Wirtschaftsservice aws. The founding team around revitalyze has already received several awards for their idea around circular building materials. “We recently attended the World Summit Awards WSA in Mexico. We were able to win the ‘Josef Umdasch Research Prize’ in the ‘Sustainable Solutions for the Building Life Cycle’ category,” said the revitalyze CEO.
In the future, the startup wants to streamline the entire process of reusing building materials: from automated inventory using AI and image recognition to logistics and payment. “We have three projects in the pipeline. We are currently developing prototypes and are planning to implement the first projects in western Austria for the first time in the next few months,” concludes Plaseller.
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