What Borro does

Borro (Borro BV) is a Brussels-based startup founded in 2023 by Glenn Verhaege, Kasper Albers, and Niels Willems. The company provides a digital deposit system for reusable cups at high-volume venues such as football stadiums, festivals, and amusement parks. The system links reusable cups directly to visitors' bank cards at the point of sale and refunds deposits automatically upon return, eliminating apps, tokens, and cash handling.

The core technology uses camera-scanned invisible codes rather than RFID, which simplifies deployment and reduces hardware cost at POS and return points. Smart return points recognize cups instantly even when stacked, and every cup is uniquely tied to a payment for full traceability and fraud resistance. A 24/7 live monitoring dashboard provides venues with data on return rates, stand performance, peak moments, and overall system health. Borro 1, launched in July 2025, is the company's first market-ready product.

Borro monetizes through transaction fees on processed deposits and recurring platform subscriptions for monitoring and analytics, with quote-based pricing tailored to venue size and cup volume. Its go-to-market is direct enterprise sales to stadium and venue operators, supplemented by strategic partnerships such as PSG Labs at Station F for French market entry. Flagship deployments include Club Brugge (Belgium, fully live since July 2025, processing 45,000+ cups per home game at a 93% return rate), KV Mechelen (Belgium), AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands, first Dutch club to adopt), and Parc des Princes (France, pending). The company has raised approximately €1.65M in seed funding and employs around 18 people as of the most recent reporting.

Name

Borro

Legal name

Borro BV

Website

https://borro.one

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Borro provides a digital deposit system for reusable cups at high-volume venues, using camera-scanned invisible codes and bank card-linked automatic refunds. The Brussels-based company serves European football stadiums, with flagship deployments at Club Brugge, AZ Alkmaar, and pending Parc des Princes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Reusable Packaging Deposit Software

NAICS

Vending Machine Operators (445132)

akta.pro primary industry

Embedded Deposit Accounts & Digital Wallet Infrastructure (FSAGALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Digital Wallets & Account Aggregation Hub (Multi-account, Stored Value) (FSAGAAAD)

Keywords

• Reusable cup deposits
• Digital deposit systems
• Venue sustainability software
• Cashless packaging refunds
• Smart return systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Digital Deposit Transaction Fees: The company charges venues a transaction fee or service fee for processing deposit refunds. From the Club Brugge case study, the system saves €4,832 yearly in refund transaction fees, indicating a per-transaction revenue model where Borro retains a portion of deposit processing.
2. SaaS/Platform Subscription: Venues pay for access to Borro's digital deposit platform including monitoring, analytics, and system management. The system provides real-time insights into return rates, operational performance, and peak moments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Borro sells a digital deposit platform for reusable cups used at high-volume venues such as football stadiums, festivals, and amusement parks. The system replaces token or RFID-based deposit schemes by reading invisible codes on cups via cameras at point of sale, linking each cup to the buyer's bank card, and automatically refunding the deposit when the cup is returned to a smart return point. Venues receive a monitoring dashboard with return rates, stand-level performance, and operational analytics.

Product overview

Borro offers a single unified digital deposit system for reusable cups. The system consists of three main components working together: (1) cup registration at point of sale using invisible codes read through cameras, (2) smart return points that instantly recognize cups even when stacked, and (3) automatic digital refunds released to customers' bank accounts within minutes. Borro 1 is the company's first released product, designed for high-volume environments such as stadiums, venues, and events across Europe. The system also includes a 24/7 live monitoring dashboard providing insights into return rates, stand performance, peak moments, and system performance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Borro 1 Borro 1 is a digital deposit platform for reusable cups aimed at high-volume venues such as football stadiums, festivals, and amusement parks. The system reads invisible codes on cups via cameras at point of sale, links each cup to a buyer's bank card, recognises cups instantly at smart return points (including when stacked), and refunds the deposit digitally to the buyer's bank account. It is sold as a venue-level deployment with a 24/7 live monitoring dashboard providing return rates, stand performance, peak moments, and system performance insights.

Quantifiable outcome

• 93% cup return rate at Club Brugge stadium with over 45,000 cups processed per home game
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship.

• PSG Labs / Paris Saint-GermainflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 May 2026Borro joined PSG Labs, the innovation program of Paris Saint-Germain based at Station F (world's largest startup campus). Borro is preparing implementation at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, representing a flagship European venue partnership.
• AZ AlkmaarflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst Dutch football club to partner with Borro for fully digital deposit system for reusable cups starting next season. AZ was convinced after seeing Borro's system in action at Club Brugge. Partnership includes automated refunds, data insights, and operational optimization.
• Club BruggeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerBelgian football club serving as Borro's flagship customer and proof-of-concept partner. Borro went live across entire Jan Breydel stadium in July 2025. Over 45,000 cups processed per home game with 93% return rate. Club Brugge's Fan Operations Director provided testimonial praising Borro's innovation and value.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Algramo: Chilean-origin refill-at-point-of-sale platform expanding in Europe. Adjacent reusable packaging business model focused on consumer goods rather than event venues; comparable in reusable-deposit mechanics and EU sustainability positioning.
• Loop: Reusable packaging platform from TerraCycle serving consumer brands and retailers. Comparable reusable-packaging thesis with deposit/refund mechanics, though Loop is consumer-goods focused rather than event-venue focused like Borro.

Direct peers

• Globelet: Reusable cup network and smart-tracking platform for events and venues. Comparable in serving high-volume event environments with deposit-based reusable packaging systems; competes with Borro on stadium and festival deployments.
• Muuse: Singapore-founded reusable cup and packaging platform serving enterprise venues with smart deposit infrastructure. Directly comparable to Borro's reusable-cup-at-venues thesis with similar venue-segment targeting and deposit-based business model.
• Vytal: European reusable food container network for takeaway and hospitality. Comparable in operating a digital deposit/refund infrastructure linked to customer identifiers, though primarily focused on takeaway rather than stadium/event volumes.
• ReCup: Germany's largest reusable cup deposit system, operating a network across foodservice and events. Direct competitor in the European reusable cup deposit space with an established footprint that Borro is challenging with its digital (vs. token-based) approach.

Broad incumbents

• Adyen: Global payments platform serving enterprise merchants including stadium and venue operators. Broad incumbent in the payment infrastructure layer that Borro's bank-card-linked deposit/refund flow ultimately runs on; comparable in enabling digital transactions at high-volume venues.

Others

• Too Good To Go: European surplus-food marketplace with strong sustainability brand. Adjacent in addressing food waste and reuse at venues, but operates a marketplace model rather than deposit infrastructure; thematically relevant to Borro's sustainability positioning with venue operators.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Borro