Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Romy Lindenberg, ShaventWe've developed the plastic-free Shavent pivoting razor – the comfortable, gentle way to achieve a sustainable shave all over your body. Why? Because in Germany alone, up to 500 million disposable razor heads end up in the trash every year. That's equivalent to more than 100 truckloads of non-recyclable waste. That's crazy! And it's pretty expensive waste, too: The razor handle is usually available at the drugstore as a bargain, but the replacement heads required to replace the handle add up to quite a lot of money in the long run.
Our family-run startup, Shavent, has set itself the goal of offering a real alternative. To achieve this, we developed our Shavent pivoting razor, which is plastic-free, durable, and unisex. You only replace what really needs replacing—namely, the blades—instead of the entire razor head. You can also replace regular, inexpensive standard razor blades, which are available from many brands. This not only saves waste in the long run, but also saves you money.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Romy Lindenberg: Absolutely not! My father was tired of the expensive, waste-generating replaceable heads of his drugstore razor and simply couldn't find a suitable alternative. He couldn't get used to the classic safety razor. For a quick, everyday shave, he missed the comfort of the pivoting head and the multi-blade action he was used to from drugstore razors – and a straight razor wasn't suitable for his everyday needs either.
Since he didn't see the point in having to choose between sustainability and comfort, he simply designed his own razor - the Shavent combines the full comfort of a pivoting head shave with the simplicity of inexpensive and recyclable standard razor blades.
“We had never experienced such smooth skin”
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Romy Lindenberg: If anything, you're more likely to be born into a family business – we did it the other way around. My father, Armin Seidel, a passionate mechanical engineer, developed the Shavent himself and optimized it over many 3D-printed prototypes until he had created what he thought was the perfect shaving experience. When he showed the Shavent to my mother and me, we tried it out immediately and were completely astonished: It wasn't just sustainable, it was even better than what we'd been using before. We'd never experienced such smooth skin. So it quickly became clear: We could have the Shavent razor. not keep to ourselves and so we decided to found our family startup.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Romy Lindenberg: Manufacturing a product from start to finish is, of course, a huge challenge. Finding the right local partners (the Shavent is Made in Germany), high initial investments, and optimizing production until the result meets our high quality standards – that was a big task at the start. But we found a great partner in Thuringia, also a family business with a lot of experience, who not only produced a beautiful, long-lasting Shavent with us, but also supported us during the incredible rush after our appearance on “The Lion’s Den” with full support. It was a huge challenge – producing and shipping our planned annual volume in just three months was a huge effort for everyone, but we successfully mastered this adventure together.
Shavent in more than 20,000 bathrooms
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Romy Lindenberg: It's truly incredible how many people we were able to raise awareness of the topic of "plastic-free shaving," especially with our TV appearance. The Shavent is now at home in more than 20,000 bathrooms and has delighted so many people! And that's just the beginning for us – almost 90 percent of orders so far come from German-speaking countries. There are still so many bathrooms we want to rid of unsightly, waste-generating plastic razors.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Romy Lindenberg: Having experienced Berlin as a startup hub during my time as Managing Director of Germany at HelloFresh, I'm always a bit surprised by Munich. Even though I haven't been to Berlin for years, I still know more founders there than in Munich. Sure, COVID-19 hasn't exactly made networking any easier, but I wish for all of us to "put our heads together," exchange ideas, and collaborate more. This generates so much ideas and potential!
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Romy Lindenberg: Long-term commitment. We set out with Shavent to conquer the bathrooms of the world.
