Rheaply

Rheaply is a technology company.

Active

Updated: Dec 9, 2025 ·

Recent News & Mentions

Jun 1, 2022FundingRheaply - Venture Round Jun 1, 2021FundingRheaply - Venture Round Feb 1, 2021FundingRheaply - Series A Mar 1, 2020FundingRheaply - Seed

Financial History

Rheaply has raised $33.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $20.0M Venture Round in June 2022.

Total Raised

$33.0M

Valuation

N/A

Funding Rounds Raised

Date	Round	Other Investors
Jun 1, 2022	$20.0M Venture Round	Anthemis Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DFJ, fab Ventures, Future Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Gigascale Capital, HOF Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lowercarbon Capital, NEVA SGR, Not Boring Capital, Revolution, Safar Partners, Starlight Ventures, Bill Gates, Stanley Druckenmiller
Jun 1, 2021	$2.0M Venture Round	Microsoft
Feb 1, 2021	$8.0M Series A	9Yards Capital, Coatue, DBL Partners, Future Shape, GE Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, High Alpha, Marc van den Berg, Paladin Capital Group, Piva Capital, Uncork Capital, Edith Harbaugh, Frederic Kerrest, Sam Palmisano
Mar 1, 2020	$3.0M Seed	Alumni Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Bascom Ventures, Collaborative Seed & Growth Partners, Refinery Ventures, Marco A. Casas

Financial History

Rheaply has raised $33.0M across 4 funding rounds.

Total Raised

$33.0M

Valuation

N/A

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Rheaply is a Chicago-based climate tech company founded in 2016 that builds a cloud-based SaaS platform for asset and inventory management, enabling organizations to create internal sharing economies and exchange surplus resources like equipment, furniture, and materials to scale the circular economy.[1][2][4][9] It serves enterprises including higher education, healthcare, government, and Fortune 100 companies, solving problems of resource waste, over-purchasing, and inefficiency by improving asset visibility, utilization, and sustainable disposition—helping users divert waste from landfills, cut costs, and meet zero-waste goals.[3][5][6] The platform has driven tangible growth, such as diverting over 491,000 lbs of material from landfills and saving organizations $2.4 million in one year through reuse, with early successes like addressing COVID-19 medical shortages in Illinois via its ERx technology.[1][5]

Origin Story

Rheaply originated in a Northwestern University lab when Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience Garry Cooper identified massive waste of usable lab equipment and consumables amid funding cuts, prompting him to create a platform for scientists to share excess resources—coining the name as a portmanteau of "research" and "cheaply."[1][2] Cooper founded the company in 2016 alongside Tyler Skelton and Peter Tucker, starting with university labs before expanding to broader B2B applications.[1] Early traction came from the Techstars Chicago accelerator in 2018 and a $2.5 million seed round, with pivotal validation during the COVID-19 pandemic when Rheaply's ERx tool connected medical supplies to shortage-hit areas in Illinois, in partnership with Northwestern's Computer Science Department.[1]

Core Differentiators

Rheaply stands out in asset management through these key features:

Integrated circular economy platform: Combines inventory tracking, utilization analytics, and an online marketplace for internal/external exchanges of assets like furniture, equipment, and materials—unlike traditional software focused only on depreciation.[3][4][5]
Sustainability metrics and reporting: Provides data on landfill diversion (e.g., weight and embodied carbon avoided), cost savings, and zero-waste progress, enabling compliance and ROI visibility that often pays for itself quickly.[5][6]
Flexible pricing and sticky model: Charges via implementation fees, monthly subscriptions, and transactions at an organizational level (not per-user), with high retention due to workflow integration and "white-glove" services like inventory cataloging and consulting.[3][7]
End-to-end lifecycle management: Tracks asset location, condition, and value; supports reallocation, rehoming, and field services for hands-on reuse programs, reducing over-purchasing and operational silos.[6][7][8]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Rheaply rides the circular economy trend—a $4.5 trillion global market amplified by supply chain disruptions like COVID-19 shortages and rising sustainability mandates—by modernizing resource management for a post-linear economy focused on reuse over consumption.[1][3] Timing aligns with corporate net-zero goals, regulatory pressures for waste reduction, and economic incentives to cut budgets amid inflation, positioning Rheaply to capitalize on underutilized assets in siloed organizations.[2][5][9] It influences the ecosystem by partnering with institutions prioritizing ESG, fostering networked reuse communities, and proving scalability through metrics like rapid cost recoupment (e.g., $30,000 in 14 days for one university), thus accelerating adoption of circular principles in tech-enabled operations.[1][5]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Rheaply is poised to expand its platform with advanced features like enhanced inventory management, global scaling for remanufacturing, and deeper AI-driven sustainability reporting to support broader zero-waste strategies.[1][3] Trends like tightening ESG regulations, AI-optimized supply chains, and climate tech investment will propel growth, potentially evolving Rheaply into a standard for enterprise resource efficiency. As circular models mature, its influence could extend to influencing policy and industry standards, turning today's resource-sharing innovator into a cornerstone of sustainable operations—proving that scaling reuse is key to thriving in a resource-constrained world.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

How much funding has Rheaply raised?

Rheaply has raised $33.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.

Who are Rheaply's investors?

Rheaply's investors include Anthemis Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DFJ, fab Ventures, Future Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Gigascale Capital, HOF Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lowercarbon Capital.