YVY: The Brazilian Nespresso of cleaning products

Contxto– YVY is a startup from Brazil specialized in cleaning products that provide maximum efficiency with a minimum ecological footprint.  

The idea is simple, yet futuristic: A package containing YVY capsules is delivered to your door. You insert the capsules into a sprayer and start cleaning. After finishing the product, you return the empty capsules to YVY in order for them to be recycled. 

Basically a combination of Nespresso and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

YVY’s business model consists of selling subscription-based packages which are delivered to their clients’ homes. You can customize your own YVY kit according to your specific living situation: If you live alone or with your family, for example.         

This procedure significantly reduces the ecological footprint of its cleaning products by saving water, replacing harmful chemicals with vegetable ingredients, and minimizing the use of plastic. 

The YVY website states that, in a year, by using the company’s products you will save 13.8 lb in plastics or 1260 straws, 180 pounds of water and plastic transport, and reduce 94 percent of the CO2 that other brands emit. 

YVY expansion to the United States

This year YVY has launched operations in the United States, branded as YVY Naturals.

Although the US market is highly competitive, YVY’s deep ecological concern can position them in a privileged place since natural products make up 20 percent of the cleaning products sector.

YVY seems to be in the upfront of the startup market with its environmental-friendliness and its subscription/delivery model. Here’s to hoping that other companies follow through with this particular corporate ethic.  

A brief history of YVY

YVY’s name is indicative of the company’s philosophy and purpose. Taken from the Tupi-Guarani language, it means a land without evils where there is communion between humans and nature.

It all started when José Majolo, businessman and owner of a hotel boutique near São Paulo, was visited by a chemist who sold him an innovative cleaning product. At first he used it for his hotel, but then he decided to open his own brand of ecological cleaning products: TerpenOil.

YVY is a sub-brand of TerpenOil, and its purpose remains the same, that is, creating environmentally-friendly cleaning products. 

aThe company was created in 2018 by Majolo and Marcelo Ebert, the director of TerpenOil. Two years later, after launching their initial product line, the company received its first round of investments for R$3 million (~US$533,000).

Although YVY’s initial appeal was the concern for ecology, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of its client portfolio, perhaps because of its delivery-focused business model. As of now, YVY has around 4,000 clients in Brazil, and they intend to close the year with 5,000 clients. 

-BIC

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