Ikea-backed Nornorm secures €50m to become ‘Netflix of furniture’

Anders Munk Jepsen worked at furniture giant Ikea for almost 15 years before he co-founded Nornorm in 2020, alongside Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg.

The pair wanted to rethink the way businesses furnish their offices. So, fuelled by an early investment from Ikea, they created the concept for what Jepsen likens to a “Netflix for furniture.”

“We rent out furniture on a subscription basis – no fixed leases, full flexibility, and you can chop and change what you need and don’t need anymore at short notice,” says Jepsen. However, unlike Netflix, you need to give 6 months notice before cancelling your rental.

You don’t own it

By encouraging businesses to rent instead of buy, Nornorm hopes to boost circularity in its supply chain. The company only uses furniture that can be easily refurbished, says Jepsen.

When things need to get repaired, they’re sent to a warehouse, fixed up, and then re-rented. For when items reach the end of their life, the company is also exploring how to completely reuse old wood, for example, and granulate it and turn it into a new table.

“In a linear economy, companies are incentivised to use and buy more. But we are the opposite – the more we can reuse and refurbish and the less materials we use, the better for our business,” says Jepsen.

Breaking even

Nornorm’s latest funding round, a mix of equity and debt, saw participation of all its existing investors, including Verdane, Inter IKEA, Banco Santander and Philian Invest, the investment vehicle owned by ​​H&M chairman and Swedish billionaire Karl-Johan Persson.

“Nornorm consistently demonstrates how circular business models can combine sustainability with commercial success," says Erik Osmundsen, partner at Stockholm-based Verdane.

The funding brings Nornorm’s total capital raised to over €170m, according to Dealroom data.

Nornorm more than doubled its turnover in 2024, from €1,47m to €3.11m, which, as Impact Loop previously reported, made the business profitable for the first time.