Three years ago, Ikenna Azuike left his job as a finance lawyer to start Strawberry Earth, a sustainable design blog and events platform with partners like Timberland, Aveda and Etsy. Over the last three years, Strawberry Earth built a significant community on and offline through various social media channels and its blog plus events.
Today, the Amsterdam based startup, Strawberry Earth launched its new daily deals site, which Azuike says is Europe’s first green version of Groupon. The site, which went live this morning, features upcoming deals with internationally recognised brands like Baobab Travel as well as smaller local Dutch brands.
For the last 3 years we’ve focussed on inspiring people by blogging about awesome sustainable design and organising fun events but now our readers and fans can go one step further and buy these awesome products, from brands that lots of people have never heard about. That’s part of the problem that we want to fix: lots of people are keen to live a more sustainable lifestyle but they don’t know where to find the cool, creative, beautifully designed and sustainable brands. That’s where we come in…
-Ikenna Azuike
In the U.S., Strawberry Earth competes with U.S. based Blissmo, a similarly like-minded nationwide daily deals site that also offers a subscription based service to a box of sustainable products, California-based companies DealGooder and Green Box Top and the Canadian based company ethicalDeal.
Like many things made in Amsterdam, the Strawberry Earth site is designed really well. Unlike Blissmo, it’s aesthetically smart with a fun, playful layout. Today, on Strawberry Earth, you’ll find a deal on hangover free wine (awesome) and a sold-out dinner for two at one of Amsterdam’s hottest restaurants.
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Azuike says the site will focus on products and services that are sustainable, fair trade, beautifully designed and that they’ll partner with brand lines that live up to their Strawberry Earth Principles. The new daily deals website will also feature a unique crowdfunding element. With each purchase, buyers on the website will be invited to vote for “a good cause” of their choice. The winning good cause with the most votes after 3 months will receive a week’s worth of exposure via Strawberry Earth’s network, including the blog, Facebook, Twitter, email newsletters, etc. and in future, these good causes will also receive a share of SE profits.
The site went live today. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
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