Finnish e-commerce Daze raises a pre-seed round

Daze, a Helsinki-based e-commerce startup dedicated to post-purchase experiences, has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding from Antler and Wave Ventures. The funding injection will support its team expansion and accelerate the product development efforts.

• Founded in November 2023 by Joose Toiviainen and Ilkka Rosenberg, Daze offers a no-packaging, no-label return service that picks up items directly from consumers’ doorsteps. The startup claims that by partnering with retailers on a B2B2C basis, Daze provides a seamless returns experience for customers, leading to higher average order values, and customer lifetime values for retailers.

Our product addresses the pain points of traditional return processes. Retailers partner with us on a B2B2C basis, to provide the smoothest returns for their customers. By acknowledging the struggles of the end customer, retailers see direct benefits such as higher average order values, which translates to elevated customer lifetime values. On the supply side, inventory turnover is remarkably higher and consolidated return shipping brings instant cost savings,

Ilkka Rosenberg, co-founder of Daze, said.

• The fresh investment was co-led by Antler, a global community of investors with offices in 27 cities, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. Since 2018, it has supported more than 1,000 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing over 6,000 by 2030.
• Wave Ventures, the second lead investor this round, is Europe’s student-run VC helping Nordic Gen Z founders on early stages. The exact funding amount of the round was undisclosed.

Daze will use the fresh capital to expand its team, accelerate the product development, and also to boost its vision of becoming the leading Prime Shipping for direct-to-consumer brands.