Brussels-based Borro bags €1.3 million to expand digital deposit system for reusable cups across Europe

Borro, a Brussels-based startup offering a digital deposit system for reusable cups, has raised €1.3 million from investors to expand further into the Netherlands, Germany and France this summer. 

The investment round was supported by Seeder Fund, imec.istart, bluesnipe, PMV and butterfly & elephant, the corporate venture capital arm of GS1 Germany. In November 2024, the company announced that it raised €350k in its initial funding round.

“The funding will be used to further strengthen our team and accelerate our growth across Europe. We see the same challenges around reuse emerging everywhere. Our ambition is to make Borro the European reference for digital deposit systems,” said Co-founder Kasper Albers. 

Founded in 2023 by Glenn Verhaege, Kasper Albers and Niels Willems, Borro has developed an intelligent deposit system for reusable cups. 

According to the company, over the past few years, reusable cups have become impossible to ignore at large events and in stadiums. These cups have become a key concern for the event industry. European regulation is accelerating that transition, while many organisers continue to look for systems that are both user-friendly and operationally viable.

The company claims that its system links reusable packaging to the visitor’s bank card. Anyone returning a cup or container to a smart collection point automatically receives their deposit back. In this way, the system reduces waste and makes reuse easier for both visitors and organisers.

It also provides 24/7 live monitoring with insights into return rates, stands, peak moments, and system performance. In order to prevent fraud, Borro states that each cup is uniquely linked to a payment and tracked for complete traceability. Each cup is worthless until its linked to a real translation. 

Explaining why the company does not use RFID technology, Glenn Verhaege, co-founder of Borro, said, “We deliberately decided not to use RFID technology like many other systems. We wanted to build a solution that is simpler and more affordable. That’s why we developed an alternative based on invisible codes that can be read through cameras. We’re happy that we’ve now been able to prove that this also works at scale.”

The company is already active at Belgian football clubs such as Club Brugge and KV Mechelen. It reports that millions of reusable cups have already been processed through Borro’s system. 

Borro recently joined PSG Labs, the innovation programme of Paris Saint-Germain based at Station F, and is currently preparing an implementation at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. The company is also seeing growing interest from concert venues, amusement parks and festivals.

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