Happy Cups
Happy Cups BV is a Dutch sustainable packaging company producing reusable PHA bioplastic drinking cups for festivals, corporate offices, and hospitality clients across the Netherlands via direct sales, event rentals, and recurring subscriptions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersOosterwolde, Netherlands
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Happy Cups does
Happy Cups BV is a Dutch sustainable packaging company headquartered in Oosterwolde, Friesland, that designs, produces, and distributes reusable drinking cups made from PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastic. PHA is produced by microorganisms from organic feedstock and breaks down fully into minerals and CO2 in soil, freshwater, and seawater, distinguishing the product from PLA and conventional plastics. The company sells six core SKUs covering coffee (180ml), festival (300ml), event, drink, and to-go formats, plus gift sets, with options for custom pad printing and laser engraving. Happy Cups operates three revenue streams: direct hardware sales, event cup rental with delivery, collection, and industrial washing at a stated capacity of 2,500 cups per hour, and a recurring monthly B2B coffee cup subscription for corporate canteens. Customers are concentrated in the Netherlands and span festivals (Paradigm, Amsterdam Dance Event, Stad Festival Zwolle), government and environmental bodies (Staatsbosbeheer), agriculture (De Groene Vlieg), and education (NHL Stenden), with a smaller consumer base served via the Circulaire Webshop. The business emerged from parent LIMM and the EU-funded Interreg BIOCAS project, under which Happy Cups developed its proprietary PHA processing, injection molding, and printing know-how over roughly 8 years. The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding, operates with a 7-person team, and is positioned to benefit from tightening EU single-use plastics regulation.
Happy Cups firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Happy Cups
- Legal name
- Happy Cups BV
- Website
- https://happycups.nl
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Happy Cups BV is a Dutch sustainable packaging company producing reusable PHA bioplastic drinking cups for festivals, corporate offices, and hospitality clients across the Netherlands via direct sales, event rentals, and recurring subscriptions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Happy Cups industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Sustainable Reusable Drinkware (Bioplastic Cups)
- NAICS
- Plastics Bottle Manufacturing (326160)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Plastics Products (3080)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Reusable & Refill Packaging Systems (Returnable Packaging, Refill-at-Home/In-Store) (IMALAMAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Beverage Rigid Plastic Packaging (Water, CSD, Juice Bottles) (IMALAAAI), Beverage Packaging (Bottles, Cans, Cartons, Kegs) (IMALAHAD)
Keywords
Where Happy Cups is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Oosterwolde
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Happy Cups business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Cup Product Sales: Direct sales of PHA bioplastic cups in various sizes (Happy Koffie Cup 180ml, Happy Festival Cup 300ml, Happy Event Beker, Happy To Go Cup 300ml, Happy Drinkbeker). Cups can be purchased with custom logos or branding.
- Event Cup Rental: Rental service for festivals and events including delivery, collection bins, and industrial washing after use. Customers can rent cups in bulk quantities with personalized options.
- Coffee Cup Subscription: Subscription service for companies providing reusable coffee cups with regular delivery, collection, and industrial washing. The service includes inventory management and replaces single-use cups in office canteens.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Cup purchase - various sizes and customization options |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Event rental - delivery, collection, and washing service |
| Subscription | Monthly | Office subscription - regular delivery and washing service |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
Happy Cups product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Happy Cups manufactures, sells and rents reusable drinking cups made from PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastic, a fossil-free, 100% biodegradable polymer produced by microorganisms. The company serves festivals, corporate offices, hospitality venues and individual consumers with a portfolio of coffee cups, festival hardcups, event cups, drink cups, takeaway cups and gift sets, and operates a subscription-based delivery, collection and industrial washing service for office canteens.
Product overview
Happy Cups is a Dutch company offering a portfolio of reusable drinking cups made from PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastic. The product range includes the Happy to go Cup (300ML takeaway cup with lid options), Happy koffie cup (180ML coffee cup), Happy festival cups (300ml event cups), Happy event beker (multi-size event cups with purchase/rental options), Happy drinkbekers (200ml drinks cup), and Happy cadeau sets (gift packaging). The company also operates a subscription service for businesses that includes delivery, collection, and industrial washing. All products are 100% fossil-free, biodegradable, dishwasher-resistant, and can be reused hundreds of times.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Happy to go Cup
Quantifiable outcome
- Cups biodegrade completely within months in natural environments, leaving only minerals and CO2
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Happy Cups
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Happy Cups technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Happy Cups partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Paradigm FestivalcoreParadigm Festival is the first in the Netherlands to fully switch to Happy Cups' fossil-free PHA hardcups. The partnership began in 2016 and has evolved into a flagship implementation of the sustainable cup technology at scale.
- GROENN (Groene Evenementen Noord Nederland)coreOrganizer of sustainable events in Northern Netherlands, promoting Happy Cups at Paradigm Festival and hosting tours to showcase sustainable event innovations.
- LIMM RecyclingcoreParent company and partner in circular economy solutions. LIMM developed the BIOCAS project and holds expertise in PHA production and recycling systems.
- Gemeente OoststellingwerfminorLocal government partner in the Biobased Economy Project (2015-2020) that funded initial PHA cup development through municipal support.
- Provincie FrieslandminorProvincial government partner in the Interreg BIOCAS project supporting PHA product line development.
- NHL Stenden (University of Applied Sciences)minorResearch partner in the BIOCAS project providing academic expertise in biobased economy and PHA technology development.
- Hogeschool Van Hall LarensteinminorUniversity partner in the BIOCAS project contributing research on PHA properties and applications.
- Worldperfect (Denmark)minorInternational partner in the Interreg BIOCAS project representing Denmark in the North Sea Region collaboration.
- Interreg North Sea Region BIOCAScoreEU-funded program (2017-2021) under ECO-Innovation initiative focused on biomass cascading and sustainable product development. Happy Cups participated as part of the consortium developing the PHA product line.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Happy Cups competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- RECUP: Germany-based reusable cup rental and deposit system serving festivals, events, and foodservice. Directly comparable to Happy Cups' rental-plus-wash model and target customer (event organizers), though operating at significantly larger scale across Germany and beyond.
- rCUP: UK reusable coffee cup brand offering branded, returnable cups to events and corporate customers. Comparable in target customer segments (corporates, events) and reusable cup value proposition, though rCUP focuses on branded takeaway cups rather than festival hardcups.
- Relevo: German reusable cup system offering deposit-based cup rentals for events and foodservice with washing logistics. Directly competes with Happy Cups' event rental stream and addresses the same single-use-cup replacement use case across the DACH region.
- CupClub: UK-based reusable cup service targeting festivals and large venues with smart-tracking cup return systems. Comparable subscription/rental model for events, though with technology-led differentiation rather than material-led.
- Bump (Better World Cups): UK company producing reusable cups (recycled PP) targeting events and hospitality. Comparable as a direct reusable cup alternative for events/festivals, though using conventional plastic rather than PHA bioplastic.
- FairCup: Dutch/German reusable cup pooling system for festivals and events with deposit return and industrial washing. Operates in the same geography as Happy Cups with an essentially identical reusable cup rental business model for event organizers.
Emerging players
- BioPak: Australia-headquartered sustainable foodservice packaging company offering compostable cups and containers. Comparable as a sustainable beverage packaging provider, though focused on compostable disposables rather than reusable/refill systems.
- Vegware: UK-based specialist in compostable foodservice packaging including plant-based cups. Comparable as a sustainable beverage packaging supplier for foodservice and events, though focused on compostable disposables rather than the reusable cup rental model.
Others
- Kaneka: Japanese chemical company and one of the world's largest producers of PHA bioplastic (Kaneka PHACT). Listed as a Happy Cups partner on the website and a key upstream enabler of the PHA cup material ecosystem in which Happy Cups operates.
Broad incumbents
- Huhtamaki: Global food and beverage packaging manufacturer with a growing range of sustainable/compostable cup offerings. Comparable as a broad incumbent in beverage packaging with overlapping sustainable cup products, though serving the global market at vastly larger scale.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Happy Cups social profiles
Digital presenceHappy Cups financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Happy Cups leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Happy Cups funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Happy Cups M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Happy Cups
What does Happy Cups do?
Happy Cups manufactures, sells and rents reusable drinking cups made from PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastic, a fossil-free, 100% biodegradable polymer produced by microorganisms. The company serves festivals, corporate offices, hospitality venues and individual consumers with a portfolio of coffee cups, festival hardcups, event cups, drink cups, takeaway cups and gift sets, and operates a subscription-based delivery, collection and industrial washing service for office canteens.
Is Happy Cups a public or private company?
Happy Cups is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Happy Cups founded?
Happy Cups was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Happy Cups based?
Happy Cups is headquartered in Oosterwolde, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Happy Cups make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Cup Product Sales are the primary driver. The others are event Cup Rental and coffee Cup Subscription.
Who are Happy Cups's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are RECUP, rCUP, Relevo, CupClub, Bump (Better World Cups) and FairCup. Emerging players are BioPak and Vegware. Kaneka is listed as an others. Huhtamaki is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Happy Cups have an API?
No public API is recorded for Happy Cups.
What industry is Happy Cups in?
Happy Cups's product category is Sustainable Reusable Drinkware (Bioplastic Cups). Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMALAMAE, Reusable & Refill Packaging Systems (Returnable Packaging, Refill-at-Home/In-Store), with a secondary code of IMALAAAI, Beverage Rigid Plastic Packaging (Water, CSD, Juice Bottles). Its NAICS code is 326160 and its SIC code is 3080.