I.00For investors

A small entrant with a large ambition, scaling by partnering, not fighting.

SecondSource is an early-stage, mission-driven circular marketplace for Danish residual materials. We do not aim to replace the waste and recycling industry. We aim to give it a matching layer it does not have, and to grow alongside the established players rather than against them.

Seed need

5 to 6M DKK

target raise

Success fee

8 to 10%

per completed exchange

Gross margin

65 to 80%

target, capital-light

Path to break-even

Year 4 to 5

projection

All figures on this page are targets and projections for an early-stage company, not results. We have no signed partner deals or audited traction to report yet, and we say so plainly.

I.01How we scale

Partner with the industry, not against it.

A two-person company will not out-muscle the waste and recycling sector, and it should not try. Our distribution strategy is to make established players more effective and to grow on top of their reach. These are the partner types we are built to work with. We have not signed any of them yet.

P.01

Large recyclers and waste operators

Established operators already move the material. We send them better-matched, higher-value streams and surface buyers they would not otherwise reach. We coordinate the match; they keep the logistics and the relationship.

P.02

Industry associations and networks

Sector associations reach the SMEs we want to serve. Working through them is faster and more trusted than cold outreach, and keeps us aligned with the industry rather than disrupting it.

P.03

Municipalities and symbiosis programmes

Public circular-economy and industrial-symbiosis programmes share our goal. We can be the matching infrastructure underneath them rather than a competing initiative.

Partner categories describe our intended go-to-market, not announced partnerships. We will name partners only once agreements are real.

I.02Our model

A marketplace that earns when material moves.

At the core is a marketplace with optional hands-on facilitation. We earn a success fee on completed exchanges, with tiered subscriptions on top. We never own inventory and never handle material, which keeps the model capital-light.

TARGET GROSS MARGIN
65 to 80%

Capital-light by design. The variable cost of one more exchange is small, so margin holds as volume grows.

Inventory owned

None

Material handled

None

Seed need

5 to 6M DKK

Break-even

Year 4 to 5

R.01

Success fee

8 to 10%

per completed exchange

The primary revenue line. Charged only when a buyer and seller settle a real transaction. No fee on listings, browsing, or quotes that go nowhere.

R.02

Tiered subscriptions

Recurring

workspace and reporting tiers

Optional platform access for both sides, with a premium reporting tier for larger buyers with disclosure obligations. Stacks on the success fee.

R.03

Optional facilitation

Hands-on

when an exchange needs it

For complex streams, the team structures the listing and shepherds the exchange to settlement. Higher touch, higher conversion, same fee logic.

R.04

Capital efficiency

Low burn

no inventory, no logistics

Because we never carry material, the seed funds product, matching, and a small team, not working capital tied up in stock.

Margins, seed need, and break-even are early-stage projections, not financial statements. Pricing detail lives on the pricing page.

I.03Mission-locked governance

Built so the mission cannot be quietly sold.

The usual failure mode for a mission-driven company is success: it grows, takes capital, gets acquired, and the impact gets optimised away. We have put four safeguards in the legal structure so that cannot happen here. Together they keep impact senior to short-term financial extraction.

G.01Veto on mission

A golden share

A protected share that can veto changes which would gut the social purpose, such as removing the mission lock, even after new investors arrive or ownership changes hands.

G.0235%

A dividend cap

No more than 35% of distributable profit can leave as dividends. The rest stays in the company to fund the mission. Returns are real, but extraction is bounded so short-term payout cannot starve long-term impact.

G.03SME voice

A stakeholder board seat

A reserved board seat for a representative of the SMEs we serve, so the people the mission is for have a permanent voice where decisions are made.

G.04ApS plus foundation

The legal form

An ApS with an associated foundation holding an RSV-style mission lock. The lock lives in the legal structure, not just in a slide, so it survives funding rounds, leadership change, and acquisition.

Why this exists

Mission lock is not a constraint we tolerate. It is a feature we are selling. It tells an impact-aligned investor that the additionality they are funding will still be there in ten years, and it tells an SME on the platform that the company built to serve them will not be turned against them. Impact stays senior to extraction, by design.

Structure described in plain terms. Exact instruments and thresholds are being finalised with counsel and confirmed at incorporation and first close.

I.04Return profile

For patient capital, that wants the impact to be real.

This is not built for return maximisation at any cost. It is built for investors who want a fair financial return and a protected, additional mission, and who understand the two reinforce each other.

The dividend cap and mission lock mean we are explicit about the trade. You accept a return that is fair rather than purely maximised. In exchange, the impact you are funding is structurally protected and genuinely additional.

A.01

Additionality, stated plainly

The matched exchanges happen because the platform exists. Without the match, most of this material is downcycled, landfilled, or incinerated. The impact is what we cause, not what would have happened anyway.

A.02

A fair, not maximised, return

Capped dividends and reinvested profit mean upside is shared with the mission. Investors are buying durable, protected impact alongside a sound business, not the steepest possible exit.

A.03

Aligned, not extractive

Revenue comes from real exchanges between paying companies. The business only grows when material actually moves, so financial success and impact point the same direction.

A.04

Honest about stage

We are early. The right partner is comfortable with early-stage risk and a multi-year horizon, and values a mission that is locked rather than promised.

I.05Use of funds and roadmap

Prove one region, then expand carefully.

The seed funds a focused first phase, not a land grab. We earn the right to each next phase by making the previous one work.

PHASE 01
Current focus

Copenhagen

Prove the loop in one dense region with three material families: metal, plastic, and packaging. Tight feedback, real exchanges, a defensible playbook.

MetalPlasticPackaging
PHASE 02
Next

National Denmark

Extend the proven playbook across Denmark, widening material categories and onboarding partners region by region.

More regionsMore material familiesFirst partners live
PHASE 03
Later

Nordics and EU

Take the model into neighbouring markets where material flows and regulation rhyme with Denmark. Only once the home market is working.

Nordics firstSelected EU marketsPartner-led entry
Use of seed funds
  • ~ 45%

    Product and matching engine

    The platform, search, fit scoring, and the data layer that makes good matches.

  • ~ 35%

    Team and customer success

    A small team to structure streams, vet counterparties, and get exchanges to settlement.

  • ~ 20%

    Partnerships and compliance

    Building the partner network and the methodology, audit trail, and reporting layer.

Indicative allocation for an early-stage raise. Phases and splits will move with what the first phase teaches us.

I.06Get in touch

If protected impact and a fair return are the deal you want.

We are raising a seed round to prove the loop in Copenhagen. If you invest in early-stage, mission-locked companies, we would like to talk. We will share the data room and be straight about what is proven and what is still a projection.