LONDON, Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Circularity Capital LLP, the specialist private equity firm supporting growth-stage European SMEs in the circular economy, continues to build its portfolio, leading a multi-million pound growth funding round in ZigZag Global, a software solution for retailers to optimally manage the return, consolidation and resale of products both domestically and internationally. The investment was also backed by U.S. Silicon Valley investor Plug And Play Ventures.

Circularity Capital's investment will further accelerate the rollout of the solution to bluechip retailers. Clients include Topshop, Selfridges and GAP amongst others.

E-commerce return volumes are growing at 10-20 percent per annum. In the U.S. market alone, 2.5 million tons of returned goods end up in landfills, the equivalent of the volume of waste produced by five million Americans.

ZigZag's multi-award winning SaaS platform enables 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.

The system reduces parcel journeys by up to 65 percent 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 percent.

Circularity Capital's investment in ZigZag is consistent with its hands-on approach of backing businesses capturing new sources of value through circular business practices. Circularity Capital's investment will see it play a key role in supporting the management team as they accelerate its international rollout plan. Ian Nolan, partner at Circularity Capital, has joined the ZigZag board.

Ian Nolan, Partner at Circularity Capital, said:

"ZigZag has developed a powerful solution for retailers to address the growing challenge posed by e-commerce returns. Our investment in ZigZag is highly aligned with Circularity's focus on using the circular economy to identify opportunities to drive financial value creation in parallel with positive environmental and societal impact."

Al Gerrie, CEO and founder of ZigZag, commented:

"Circularity Capital's investment will play a key role in fueling our market growth. In addition to allowing us to reach more customers, the funding will allow us to further develop our product offering to deliver even more value for retailers. We placed significant emphasis on bringing on board an investor who brings more than just capital to the table - Circularity Capital's specialist network and insight in the circular economy was a great fit for us in this regard."

ZigZag is also nominated for the People's Choice award at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

About Circularity Capital:

Circularity Capital was founded in 2014 to deliver value for investors by supporting SME growth and innovation in the circular economy. Circularity Capital's investment strategy specifically addresses the increasing challenges faced by traditional linear, "take-make-dispose" models of production and consumption. Circularity Capital seeks out businesses that can out-perform the market and their linear competitors by applying the circular economy framework through enhanced resource productivity. Circularity Capital targets investments in profitable, fast-growing European SMEs operating across the circular economy. Investors in the fund include global financial institutions, family offices and strategic corporate investors. www.circularitycapital.com

About ZigZag Global:

ZigZag Global is a software solution to help e-commerce retailers manage returns domestically and globally.

The ZigZag platform connects major retailers to a global network of over 220 warehouses to over 100 carrier solutions and 26 marketplaces in over 130 countries - all from a single integration. ZigZag uses predictive analytics to understand the most cost-effective and energy-efficient route to work out if a retailer should hold and resell returned products in local markets or bring them back via consolidation.

ZigZag's mission is to help retailers become more sustainable whilst cutting costs by up to over 50 percent and improving the speed of customer refunds by getting stock back in the supply chain more quickly. Clients include leading global retailers in clothing, footwear, sports, health and beauty and other verticals.

Awards:

ZigZag is listed in the Retail Tech Top 50, The StartUps Top 100 and Disrupt 100 and ZigZag recently won the 2018 Shop.org Disruption and Innovation Award; 2018 World Post and Parcel Awards for Ecommerce and Innovation; 2018 Postal Pitch in Washington; 2018 Millennial 20:20 Ecommerce Enabler; and 2017 ShopTalk Startup award along with a 25,000 Euro prize. It also won the 2017 Sustainability Award in Milan; 2017 Innovation Award at IRX; StartUps 100 Winner 2017; 2016 Global award at the World Retail Congress in Dubai for innovation; Mark of Excellence - Disruptor of the Year 2016 - Supply Chain Awards; and Winner at London Technology Week – GetInTheRing. ZigZag is also proud to be a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. ZigZag is also a finalist at The Circulars in Davos at the World Economic Forum.

Contact ZigZag: Please see more info at www.zigzag.global.

Patrick Eve +44 7921 070 817 patrick@zigzag.global / Al Gerrie +44 7787 891 546 al@zigzag.global

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SOURCE ZigZag Global Ltd

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