1 July 2024
Celebrating summer: discover a new group of amazing COSH! members at our second pop-up in Berlin
- COSH! Member Publicity
- Lifestyle
COSH! has announced a significant financial accomplishment, securing over €750,000 in a recent investment round, a milestone achieved over the past six months. This financial success coincides with the company’s successful completion of the Social Tides Accelerator, a prestigious program supported by Google Org and INCO, aimed at fostering impact-driven companies.
The investment round brought together a diverse mix of funding sources. This included contributions from private investors, an internal recruitment drive among senior management, a blend of private and bank loans, and valuations from notable entities such as Imec.istart. Additionally, COSH! received a recent grant from Social Tides. This broad-based financial support underscores the market’s confidence in COSH!‘s vision for a sustainable future in retail.
Impact and Expansion: COSH!‘s Path Forward
2023 marks a transformative year for COSH!, with the new funding enabling the company to enhance its impact further, expand its selection of sustainability-driven local brands and stores, and increase consumer awareness. These funds will also facilitate COSH!‘s expansion throughout Europe, focusing on strengthening its presence in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. This signals a critical step in its international growth strategy.
Over the past year, COSH! has dedicated itself to developing a new platform and establishing a firm foothold in Germany. With a scalable IT infrastructure now in place, COSH! is set to perform city scans to identify and highlight stores offering more conscious choices and utilise supply chain data from fashion and textile brands already analysed by COSH!. In the upcoming weeks, COSH! plans to launch a store portal for its members to transparently track the impact of each member store’s sustainability endeavours. In the forthcoming months, COSH! will aggregate and provide insights at the city and regional levels, with several pilot projects underway.
Resilience in Challenging Economic Times
Given the current difficult economic environment, COSH! acknowledges the mounting challenges confronting local entrepreneurs. Therefore, COSH! advocates conscious shopping at local, sustainable stores this holiday season. Despite economic challenges, COSH! anticipates a positive impact in 2024, buoyed by renewed collaborations with cities like Hasselt, Bruges, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. More exciting city developments are expected to be announced in February and April.
Commitment to Collaboration and Support
COSH! is keenly aware of the challenges faced by local entrepreneurs and is poised to offer support. The company notes that businesses within the COSH! network, focusing on sustainability, have shown greater resilience to economic difficulties compared to those in cities not affiliated with COSH!. While emphasising and developing network strengthening in Belgium, COSH! plans to engage even more closely with local entrepreneurs in the coming period, thus delaying some IT developments. The company remains dedicated to creating and accelerating positive change in the retail industry and encouraging conscious shopping behaviours.
COSH! expresses its sincerest thanks to all its investors, partners, supporters, the Social Tides Accelerator, Google Org, INCO, imec.istart, its staff, and everyone who contributed to the success of this funding round and the growth of COSH! in recent years. With optimism for 2024, COSH! is also set to recruit additional key personnel in Belgium and the Netherlands.
About COSH!
COSH! is an impact-driven digital platform that assists consumers in making informed, sustainable shopping choices. Providing transparent information about the sustainability initiatives of brands and stores, COSH! collaborates with cities, stores, brands, and consumers in various countries to foster positive change in the retail industry.
