The Hamburg startup toernfounded in 2023 by Alena Schneck and Jonas Zeuner, positions itself as an “AI-supported operating platform that automates returns processes, recovers sales and makes data usable for online retailers”.
The investor network Venture League, Superangels and business angels such as Volker Rofalski, Arndt Brockmann, Jens Schumann and Martina Pfeifer recently invested 1 million euros in the young company, which originally relied on a peer-to-peer approach.
In an interview with deutsche-startups.de, founder Alena Schneck speaks in detail about the state of affairs at toern.
How would you explain toern to your grandmother?
Imagine ordering something from the Otto catalog – only today via the Internet. If you don’t like a piece of clothing or it doesn’t fit, send it back. In the past, there was often a note in the package on which you could state why you were sending something back. We made this exact piece of paper digital. With toern, customers can register their returns online. All information ends up directly in the dealer’s system. This means the brand not only knows that something was returned, but also why. Was the size wrong? Didn’t like the color? Did the product look different than expected? At the same time, the warehouse knows in advance which items are on their way back, and many processes run automatically. Once the return has arrived, the refund can be initiated without anyone having to transfer data manually. In short: We help online retailers process returns more easily and learn something from every return so they can continually improve their products and service.
Was this your concept from the beginning?
No, our business model has actually developed significantly since it was founded. We originally started with a peer-to-peer approach. Our idea was to make returns more sustainable by ensuring that returned items do not have to take the detour via warehouses and fulfillment centers, but can be sent directly to the next buyer. Platforms like Vinted have shown that second-hand works, and Amazon has proven that customers are willing to receive products directly from different shippers. That’s why we were convinced that this model could also be exciting for brands. However, discussions with retailers revealed that the industry was not yet as advanced as we had originally assumed. Many shops were open to the topic of sustainability, but initially had completely different challenges. The digitization of returns processes was often surprisingly low, many processes were still handled manually and, above all, the data from returns was hardly evaluated. Interestingly, our potential customers kept coming to us with a different request. They didn’t want a peer-to-peer network, but rather a modern returns portal with analytics functionality. They wanted to understand why customers return and how returns can be reduced. We then spoke intensively with customers, analyzed the market and discovered that there was enormous potential there. Based on this insight, we completed the pivot in 2025 and further developed toern into an AI-supported operating platform for returns management. Looking back, this was the most important decision we have made so far.
How has toern developed since it was founded?
Today we are a team of seven people and are continually growing. We are particularly proud of the fact that, despite our young company history, we already work with well-known brands. Our customers include Saint Sass, ipuro and 1. FC Köln. We have developed significantly operationally over the past two years. While we originally wanted to solve a single sustainability problem, today we support retailers in digitizing, automating and data-driven optimization of their entire returns process. A key figure that our customers find particularly exciting: On average, around 20 percent of the originally planned refunds can be converted into alternative solutions such as exchanges or vouchers via our platform. As a result, retailers not only reduce costs, but also generate additional revenue from processes that were previously purely loss-making. For us, this shows very clearly that returns are not just an operational issue, but a real lever for profitability and customer loyalty.
Finally, we were able to raise external capital. How did you get in touch with your investors?
We consciously decided against the classic venture capital route and instead relied on experienced business angels and angel funds. Our market is huge, but at the same time it is not a typical hype market. That’s why investors who have operational experience from fashion, e-commerce and retail and who can also support us strategically were important to us. Many of our current investors have actually been with us for several years. The contacts were made through networking events, recommendations and, above all, through our existing investor network. Some were introduced to us by existing angels, others have followed our development over a long period of time. The past year in particular has shown how valuable long-term relationships are. In the end, the financing round was not a process in which we wrote to hundreds of investors, but rather the result of trust that was built over a longer period of time.
Please take a look back: What has really gone wrong since the company was founded?
As is probably the case with almost every startup, we also made some bad decisions when it came to hiring. Especially in early phases, every single setting has an enormous impact on the speed and culture of a company. We definitely learned the lesson there. But what was probably even more important was that, in retrospect, we could have made the pivot a little earlier. We have been trying for a long time to make the original peer-to-peer model successful, although we have already seen initial signals from the market that demand is actually going in a different direction. On the other hand, we learned an incredible amount from this phase. Many of the insights that are in our product today come from this time. So I wouldn’t say the original idea was a mistake. Rather, it was an important step on the way to the company we have built today.
And where have you done everything right so far?
One thing we have done very consistently from the start: we regularly zoom out and question our strategy. Every few months, as founders and in the team, we consciously take time to not only work on the company, but also to think about the company. This helps enormously in identifying market changes early on and not clinging to assumptions that may have been correct two years ago. In addition, we have always worked very closely with our customers. Many functions of our platform emerged directly from customer conversations. We don’t try to develop features that we think are cool, but rather solve real problems for our customers. And last but not least, it certainly helped us to build visibility early on. Especially in the B2B sector, many founders underestimate the importance of a strong personal brand. It was a big advantage for us that we started early to share our experiences publicly and talk about the challenges in e-commerce – on conference stages, in webinars and on LinkedIn.
Where will toern be in a year?
In a year’s time, we want to support significantly more retailers with our returns platform and further expand our market position in German-speaking countries. Our goal is that no one can ignore toern when it comes to modern returns processes in e-commerce. We want to become the first address for brands that not only want to manage returns, but also use them strategically. At the same time, we will continue to expand our platform and rely even more heavily on data and automation. Because we believe that the future of returns management does not lie in processing returns, but in learning from every return. If retailers make better decisions about products, sizes, assortments and customer experiences in the future because they have the right data at their disposal, then we have achieved our mission.
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