What the business is
A consumer subscription service for high-end electronics — iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, iPad Pros, MacBook Pros and gaming gear — in Singapore and Australia, with refurbished devices kept in circulation and recycled at end of life.
The bet
APAC consumers will trade device ownership for subscriptions once price, damage protection and sustainability are bundled — and a first mover can own the region.
Starting capital
$7.6M seed (October 2023), $30M valuation
How it started
Nick Ramsay, ex-chief product and technology officer at MoneySmart Group, saw that consumer and SME financial products 'only serve to reinforce the linear economy'. He co-founded Circular in Singapore in 2021 with George Oliver, Pantha Roy and Yaniv Bernstein.
What happened
By October 2023 Circular had grown 3X in 12 months, added gaming products to its Singapore catalog, and claimed subscribers could save up to SGD $955 on an iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB versus buying from Apple. Customers on average take twice as many long-term subscriptions as short ones, and many return for second or third devices.
How it ended up
The October 2023 seed is funding deeper product-market fit in Singapore, a doubling down on Australia, and growth of Circular for Business for startups and SMEs. Stage is scaling, not yet profitable at this point in the record.
What has to be true
Timing: Grover's $330M raise in 2022 proved the model in Europe, and APAC had no consumer-scale equivalent — only B2B player ITEZ.SG in Singapore.
Sustainability gave the model a policy tailwind: Singapore's government has made reducing e-waste a priority.
The economics argument is concrete: spreading one device across multiple subscriptions makes monthly cost lower than retailers' zero-interest installment plans.
Founders' angel networks across SEA tech (PropertyGuru, Carousell, StashAway) doubled as distribution credibility in two markets.
What can be applied
Subscription models travel slowly across cultures: where ownership signals status, the pitch has to be mythbusting plus a second-hand resale value argument, not just convenience.
Aftermath
As of October 8, 2023, Circular is deploying the seed toward product-market fit in Singapore, expansion in Australia — where its research found strong demand for used devices and sustainable models — and its B2B offering, Circular for Business, serving startups and SMEs.
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