Description

ORIGEM is a Portuguese eyewear project founded in 2017 in Lisbon with the goal of promoting bamboo as a sustainable, fair, and affordable alternative to plastic.

In an industry dominated by big plastic and multinational corporations, ORIGEM stands out for creating high-quality handmade optical products that want to create a positive social and environmental impact with every purchase.

After 2 years of accentuated online and offline growth, the promoter is seeking 20.000€ to finance the production and sale of over 600 sunglasses to meet customers' demand for their product

 The funds from this campaign will be used primarily to reinforce ORIGEM's marketing plan and for stock production. By investing in more sunglasses, ORIGEM will be able to maximize sales capacity and accelerate growth.

The Impact

Sustainable production: Origem estimates to manufacture around 1.500 pairs of glasses this year, using sustainable materials and methods. The bamboo used in the production of the glasses, cleaning cloths, and pouches is a sustainable raw material that renews itself extremely fast. One kilogram of bamboo is enough to manufacture six pairs of sunglasses.

Ethical production: all of the brand’s production with bamboo happens in China, close to the bamboo extraction location, with the same suppliers for over 5 years. The promoter has a close relationship with the supplier and has ensured the labor is fair and the work environment is safe.

Net-positive impact pursuit: ORIGEM envisions going beyond neutrality and has partnered with organizations to plant five trees and rescue fifty plastic bottles for every sale.  So far they have planted 15.000 trees and rescued over 10.000 plastic bottles from the ocean. Moreover, they have implemented a carbon offset scheme for every employee, through which every month they contribute to offset 1.24 tonnes of CO2 and to rescue 100 plastic bottles from the ocean.

Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals

Financial viability

ORIGEM is a profitable company that generates net proceeds from its activity. In 2021, the promoter surpassed 50K€ in annual revenue (AR), registering a 149% growth when compared to 2019. In 2022, the promoter's goal is to hit 75K€ in annual revenue. Year-to-date metrics point to faster growth than initially projected.

This investment will be directed to producing more sunglasses to meet unrealized demand. The goal is to minimize stock shortages – especially during the summer – in order to accelerate the company’s growth.

This investment has been structured to guarantee financial health for ORIGEM and all Goparity investors:

• The 6-month grace period will allow the promoter to roll over the investment (production-sale-production) at least once (twice over is projected) in order to generate enough proceeds to organically repay investors immediately after.
• The 4-year repayment period has been chosen to exert minimum financial stress on the promoter, allowing the investment to be internalized gradually over the repayment period.

Download Key Investment Information Sheet

The Promoter

About Origem na Linha

ORIGEM is a Portuguese eyewear project founded in 2017 in Lisbon with the goal of promoting bamboo as a sustainable, fair, and affordable alternative to plastic. This material – the fastest-growing plant on the planet – offers a tremendous potential to substitute plastic due to its level of resistance, malleability, and renewability as a self-sustaining culture.

ORIGEM’s journey started in 2016 during a trip to Brazil, where Pedro, one of the co-founders, learned more about bamboo and its use in clothing, accessories, and even housing. The plant's rapid growth and its potential to be used in a wide variety of products caught Pedro’s attention.
After 1 year of research, the ORIGEM was founded by André Barbosa, Guilherme Vasques, and Pedro Romão, who shared the vision to build a for-good and for-profit project to substitute plastic in the eyewear industry.

Over the past 5 years, the promoter has built a community of more than 3.000 clients and, with their support, ORIGEN planted has planted 15.000+ trees in reforestation projects around the world, and rescued 10.000+ plastic bottles from the ocean, and offset 40.000+ tons of CO2.

As the only company in Portugal making products exclusively out of bamboo, ORIGEM has received wide recognition from the sustainable community in Portugal. The promoter has regularly worked with dozens of sustainable influencers and participated in key sustainability events to raise support for its project. ORIGEM has also earned multiple media references such as in the BBC Wildlife magazine, Dinheiro Vivo, and Jornal de Notícias, among many others.

In an industry dominated by big plastic and multinational corporations, ORIGEM stands out for creating high-quality handmade optical products – with unique touch and wear – that create a positive social and environmental impact with every purchase.

The team

André Barbosa

Co-founder

André is a MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management graduate from FCT. As a co-founder he has been involved full-time since 2019. His main responsibilities are strategy, supply-chain and inventory management, retail operation and business expansion.

Pedro Romão

Pedro is a MSc in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. As a co-founder he is currently involved part-time in the company, while also fulfilling a role as an Economic Consultant for the United Nations. His responsibilities are strategy, financials, marketing and PR.

Business Model

Updates