Exploring Circular Tech: Rental - Modular software innovator "Bob Is Your Uncle" with Frans Biegstraaten

HappyPorch Radio: Circular Economy & Technology

In this episode of HappyPorch Radio, hosts Barry O’Kane and Jo Weston talk with Frans Biegstraaten, co-founder of BIYU, a modular rental, subscription and PAAS platform helping businesses build circular systems that scale.

BIYU started as a consumer rental service in Amsterdam, offering same-day delivery on everything from drills to electric bikes. When the business had to pivot, Frans and his team transformed their operational know-how and internal software into a SaaS product that now supports circular businesses across Europe.

✨ In this episode we learn about:

• The journey from consumer rental startup to multi-tenant SaaS provider

• How BIYU’s tech manages repair, refurbishment, and reverse logistics.

• Why integrating circular systems with existing tech like Shopify and Firmhouse matters.

• The challenges and rewards of building circular tech through experimentation.

• How BIYU enables brands to pilot circular models before full adoption.

📌 Mentioned in this episode:

BIYU – www.biyu.world

Shopify - https://www.shopify.com/

Firmhouse - https://www.firmhouse.com/

👤 About our guest:

Frans Biegstraaten is co-founder of BIYU, a circular technology company based in the Netherlands. BIYU helps rental and Product-as-a-Service companies manage everything from asset tracking to refurbishment using its modular SaaS platform.

Frans Biegstraaten on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fwbiegstraaten/

🌍 About HappyPorch

HappyPorch is a purpose-driven software engineering consultancy focused on the circular economy.

Learn more: https://www.happyporch.com

💌 Subscribe to HappyPorch Circular News

HappyPorch Circular News is our monthly newsletter for people working in and around the circular economy and technology.

Subscribe at: https://www.happyporch.com/newsletter/

🎙 Explore the Circular Economy Podcasts Guide

We’ve created something new: the Circular Economy Podcasts Guide. After 9 seasons of HappyPorch Radio and years of discovering other brilliant shows on circularity, we realised the podcast space needed a central, searchable place to explore the best voices in circular innovation.

Browse at: https://circulareconomypodcasts.guide/

▶️ Listen and subscribe:

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Visit https://www.happyporchradio.com to explore more episodes.