Munich Startup: What problem is keeping your customers up at night and how exactly do you solve it?
Joshua Linn, Founder & CEO: Our customers face a massive conflict of objectives: E-commerce continues to grow, while regulatory pressure (PPWR), costs, and sustainability requirements are increasing. Single-use cardboard boxes are a huge problem in this context. Constant repurchasing not only generates high costs but also enormous amounts of packaging waste. The entire returns process is extremely inefficient.
We'll solve that with a closed reusable system for shipping packaging.
Our boxes are used for more than 20 cycles, digitally tracked via QR code and automatically returned to the cycle.
The result:
- up to 95 percent less packaging waste
- up to 80 percent CO2 savings
- Significantly lower costs in the long term
Munich Startup: What do you do that is radically different from other providers?
Joshua Linn: We don't sell packaging – we operate a system.
That means:
- Packaging-as-a-Service instead of product sales
- Each box is part of a closed loop.
- Tracking, data, and feedback are integrated.
- C2C approach: At the end of life, we collect all boxes and recycle them ourselves, in order to reuse the recycled material for new productions.
Many people associate reusable packaging with a "more robust box." We think in terms of logistics processes and circularity. Our approach works particularly well where returns already occur, for example in the fashion industry, rental models, repair and exchange processes, or intralogistics.
"The current system is absurd."
Munich Startup: When did you know: We're going to go through with this?
Joshua Linn: The moment came when we saw how absurd the current system is: products are elaborately manufactured, shipped, and the packaging is thrown away after just a few minutes. After our initial conversations with Outfittery, it was clear: the problem isn't just real – it's enormous and unresolved. And then there was really no turning back.
Munich Startup: What has been your most difficult moment so far and what did you learn from it?
Joshua Linn: The most difficult part was (and is) not the product – but the market. We navigate between established logistics processes, conservative decision-making structures, and simultaneously extreme pressure to innovate. There were periods when deals fell through at the last minute or were delayed for months.
Our most important finding: Timing often beats the best solution. You need an extreme amount of perseverance because decisions in large organizations rarely develop linearly.
The Ocean Package brings together sustainability and economic efficiency
Munich Startup: If everything goes according to plan: What should people be saying about you in five years?
Joshua Linn: That Reusable packaging in e-commerce which has become the new standard thanks to us. And that we have shown: sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive – quite the opposite. Our goal is that companies no longer even think about whether to use reusable packaging, but only which system.
The Ocean Package Founded in 2021, the company is developing a closed-loop reusable system for shipping packaging in e-commerce. Its goal is to drastically reduce packaging waste while simultaneously lowering costs and CO2 emissions.
The founders of the startup are Joshua Linn and Philip MayerLinn studied political science with a focus on politics and economics and developed the idea during his studies.
Munich Startup: Where do startups in Munich encounter limitations, and what works particularly well here?
Joshua Linn: Munich is a strong location – but not the easiest.
Challenges:
- high costs (office, staff)
- comparatively conservative environment
What works very well:
- Access to industry and corporations
- strong networks (e.g. logistics, mobility, circular economy)
- high quality of talent
For us as a B2B startup, Munich is therefore still a very good location despite everything.
Munich Startup: Perfection or speed?
Joshua Linn: Quite simply: speed. Perfection is useless if you're too late.
Especially in a rapidly evolving market like ours, you need to iterate, test, and learn. Our approach: Start fast, learn thoroughly, and continuously improve.
