Rheaply

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.