EcoTree is a Romanian startup that offers companies an all-in-one cloud software solution for waste management.

We talked to Bogdan Andronache, CEO and co-founder at EcoTree, to learn more about their accomplishments, challenges and also about future plans for his business.

What does EcoTree bring to the table

EcoTree was founded in 2017 by Bogdan Andronache, Alexandru Petrescu, Marius Cîrstea and Dan Simota with the aim of digitizing the paperwork processes of waste collection and recycling, making circular economy more accessible in Romania. The team has more than a decade of technological experience and also in business and product development.

Their platform is available both for companies that generate waste and for waste managers that can help companies recycle their generated waste.

Because his business is about recycling, we asked the CEO how it could improve on the recycling problem that many companies struggle with in Romania.

”We started with the drive to positively impact the environment, and we first stopped with the idea of making a recycling company. While we were trying to fit the puzzle, to find strengths and weaknesses, we shortly realised the industry vulnerabilities and the early stage of recycling that Romania was into. It is never easy to innovate in an industry with poor digitalization. But, we took the challenge and started to make it work”, Bogdan told us, mentioning the fact that EcoTree is a scalable B2B SaaS (software as a service) tool that brings transparency, traceability, real time reporting and control to the waste management process.

How is EcoTree helping companies managing their waste

We wanted to know a bit more in detail how the process works and how EcoTree helps companies not only digitize paperwork, but also how companies that generate waste can connect with local recyclers to correctly dispose of the waste.

The CEO told us that "with EcoTree, our objective is to completely digitize the operational processes and legal documentation through business intelligence modules for data analysis and reporting, ensuring full transparency and traceability Using the platform, both the generators and the collectors gain control over their waste management processes and costs, but also they have access, one click away, to detailed and personalized internal reports."

EcoTree is active in Romania, but In the future the company hopes to expand to more European markets as well.

A variety of clients

We were curious to know about the startup's current clients and what industry they operate in and we were told that "currently, the company has active contracts with multinational clients from the beverage industry, food and retail. Over 400 users, generators’ representatives, are managing all their waste operations directly in the EcoTree digital platform.”

As for the international approach, one of the team's objectives for 2022 is to expand the activity in Europe. ” We are still prospecting the market opportunities in this matter", mentioned Bogdan.

Challenges for a recycling business

The biggest challenge that EcoTree still has is the way the bureaucratic system works in Romania, which involves printing and reprinting a lot of documents, a workflow that the company hopes to change for as many corporations as possible through their services.

Bogdan Andronache told us that "we wanted to create a logical and simple solution for the chaotic waste management processes in Romania, cut to 0 paper printing, because the current flow implies printing and reprinting lots of documents, give companies clearness and traceability for their operations, and also providing them with a personal data center for transactions, in order to make it easy for them to extract the important reports on their activity."

From bootstrapping to VC investments

Money is a critical part of any business, so we asked the CEO about the company's initial financial support, to which he responded that "in 2017 we used the personal finance to support the idea, in 2018 we won a 10.000 EUR prize at the ReUse Hub event, and in 2020 we received our first investment of 215.000 EUR, which fueled the development of the project towards a mature business."

Near the end of 2021, EcoTree was able to secure 500.000 dollars, bringing their total investment pool to 0.75 million that they will use to digitalize the bureaucratic processes in Romania this year.

Bogdan detailed the current financial situation by saying that "after recently completing the second round of financing, of USD 500.000, the investment pool was driven up to USD 0.75 million. The fresh capital will help us fulfill our ambitious objectives for 2022, meaning the 100% digitalization of the bureaucratic processes, such as the digital signature, but also in planning the internalization of the business model in other European countries."

The recycling situation in Romania

Romania is at the very bottom of the list of EU countries when it comes to recycling and waste management, but Bogdan Andronache says that there is hope, as many companies that operate in Romania want to become more sustainable.

"According to statistics and official European reports, Romania is still much behind other European countries in terms of recycling and waste management.

Currently, we are in the 26th position from 27 EU countries. In terms of company responsibility, most of the Romanian companies have low environmental awareness, and they are driven in their decision by complying with regulations, and by cost considerations. But, compared to past years, slowly, many Romanian companies want to become more sustainable", said Bogdan, mentioning the fact that currently, Romania is dealing with the procedure of infringement for not reaching the recycling target of 50% from the municipal waste by 2020, set by the European Union.

How companies like EcoTree try to solve the recycling issue

The CEO of EcoTree thinks that companies like his own are very important in the fight against poor waste management and poor recycling habits and the need for proper digitalization is higher and higher in the world we currently live in.

According to him, "I think that startups like EcoTree are needed in the recycling industry, to drive eco-innovation and offer companies a simple and intuitive way to better manage their waste management operations, by becoming, through digitalization, more sustainable. We live in the digital transformation world, and we find it natural to use the benefits of digitalization also in industries that are not yet digitized, but they would greatly benefit from it."

What lies ahead for EcoTree

EcoTree has some ambitious goals for the future, some to be accomplished as soon as 2022, among which are gaining 100 more clients that will hopefully contribute to the second goal for this year, which is having a revenue of 40.000 euro per month.

Beside those goals, Bogdan told us that "we aim to become the first provider of waste management solutions in Romania and to open more new markets in Europe. But as any new thing, in order to penetrate the market, you have to educate and drive healthy changes in the individual and collective habits. And recycling should become a lifestyle, a reflex gesture for all of us”.

Besides gaining new clients and making more money, EcoTree works on releasing new features for the platform, such as the CO2 calculator, the digital signature and to begin its international expansion towards digitizing the European waste management industry.