Inter IKEA Group has made a minority equity investment in Flow Loop, a Danish start-up developing a water recycling shower solution together with IKEA to inspire and enable people to be more water and energy efficient.
IKEA and Flow loop have been collaborating since March 2020 to develop an innovative water recycling shower solution that can be retrofitted in existing shower spaces. The aim is to make it easy and affordable for people to save both water and energy without compromising the shower experience.
“At IKEA, we know that we have a responsibility and an opportunity to lead and influence a movement for efficient and more sustainable water usage. This is not something that we achieve on our own. Flow Loop is a company with great passion to make positive impact on society and the environment with their innovative shower solutions”, says Robert Carleke, Innovation Ventures Manager at IKEA of Sweden.
“Our water innovation team has made great progress together with Flow Loop during the last two years’ collaboration on our journey to make this ‘shower of the future’ affordable and accessible to as many customers as possible. We are delighted to have made a minority investment to accelerate the joint product development. This is a win-win so that we can bring ideas into action.”
This collaboration is part of the IKEA commitment to develop innovative solutions that enable water saving in the home.
By recycling and cleaning the shower water in a closed loop, the solution can reduce water usage of up to 80% and generate energy savings of up to 70% compared to a normal shower. The IKEA version of the shower is still in developing and testing phase, while Flow Loop is starting sales of its first product this summer.
“We are very happy that the collaboration with IKEA has evolved from a co-development project to a direct investment. The IKEA commitment and strengths will be of tremendous value, says Troels Grene CEO of Flow Loop. “This partnership will accelerate the adoption of recirculating showers and help to drive significant water and energy savings. We see great synergies between us.”
Beyond developing innovative and affordable products to enable reduced usage of water at home, IKEA is working throughout the value chain to become more water efficient, improve water quality and increase the availability of water where IKEA has influence.
In other news IKEA has also decided to liquidate its Russian division as it continues to further scale back its operations in the country.
The move follows its previous closures of IKEA Russia stores in March as well as putting up its factories for sale and shutting offices. Recently, IKEA has also closed its online sales.
According to the record at Interfax news agency’s Spark database of Russian companies, Ingka Holding Europe B.V. decided to liquidate IKEA Dom where it is the sole owner and has been established since 2006.
IKEA also previously said it remains open to returning to Russia one day. The scaling back operations is set to impact some 15,000 jobs in Russia.
