In Malmö, Sweden, Cohabit is tackling a perennial issue faced by hundreds, if not thousands, of students: how to furnish empty, temporary student accommodation. Cohabit’s solution is furniture that is accessible, affordable, and sustainable. Functioning as a circular business, Cohabit offers “pre-loved” furniture for a fair monthly rental fee, allowing students to move into and out of their accommodation with ease. In our interview, co-founder Vaishnavi Srinivasan explains how Cohabit’s circular and sustainable approach encourages students to break free from typical buy-and-throw consumption patterns. Central to this shift is a focus on value recognition, where both customers and partners learn to see the enduring utility in “imperfect” resources that the linear economy typically discards. Srinivasan also shares how Cohabit grew from a final-year student project in her Leadership for Sustainability master’s programme into a collaborative business now operating across Malmö, Lund, and Helsingborg. By operating as a collaborative ecosystem, Cohabit prioritises the health of the entire local network, recognising that a circular model can only thrive when its partners and community grow alongside it.
Why did you start Cohabit?
Cohabit emerged from a final class assignment when I was studying Leadership for Sustainability at Malmö University where we were asked to work on a socially beneficial business concept that addressed a real-world problem. The real-world problem we decided to tackle came from my experience as a new international student in Malmo where I initially struggled to furnish my student accommodation. Once the class ended, myself and my project partners, Jed and Max, quickly worked to establish Cohabit after the conclusion of our programme in the summer as a pilot.. My husband and co-founder, Chandru, also joined during this moment where we were transitioning from a theoretical business concept into a concrete plan and functioning business. Although my co-founder Jed and Max have since moved on to other things, we now have seasonal help and interns, especially students studying logistics who are interested in circular business models.
What issue does Cohabit address?
Our clients are international students who come to study in in Sweden for exchange or short-term study programs. They arrive with a lot of excitement, but many are surprised to find their rooms completely unfurnished. In Sweden, it is common for student housing to be provided without furniture, leaving new arrivals unsure how to set up a home in an unfamiliar place. With little or no furniture in a foreign country, students must quickly figure out where to find affordable items, how to transport them, and how to furnish their new space on a limited budget.
How does Cohabit make furnishing student housing simple, affordable, and flexible?
Our solution is to offer for rent used furniture that we like to call “pre-loved” furniture. The furniture is cleaned and quality-checked, and the rental rates are designed to fit a student budget, ensuring comfort without high upfront costs. We deliver items directly to the students’ apartment and collect them at the end of their stay.
Because many students move into small studios or single rooms, we focus on providing practical, comfortable pieces that transform an empty room into a livable space. Although sustainability is central to our approach, our primary concern is satisfaction. We are transparent that the furniture is “pre-loved” and may have “love marks” such as small nicks or scratches. Most students are happy to accept these minor imperfections, which allows us to extend the life of the furniture.
What are the environmental benefits of the Cohabit model?
Furniture waste is a significant contributor to solid waste across Europe. Only about 10% is recycled, which is further complicated by the mix of materials typically used in furniture. When recycling is not possible, much of it ends up in waste streams or incineration.
When someone lets go of a piece, it is often because their circumstances have changed, not because the furniture has lost its usefulness. We see value in furniture that others no longer need. Our role is to match that furniture with someone who needs it, removing items from the use and throw-away cycle. By extending the life of these items, we reduce the demand for new materials and keep furniture out of the waste stream.
How are students responding to the idea of renting furniture?
Students are generally familiar with renting apartments, bicycles, or even clothes, but renting furniture is a relatively new concept. At first, some may feel that the idea is unusual, however, it quickly makes sense for those staying in Sweden for less than a year. Cohabit offers a practical and affordable way to set up their home without the hassle of buying furniture that will be quickly disposed of after the conclusion of their studies.
We are addressing the typical way furniture is consumed by students. Legally, It is not the responsibility of the housing providers, such as AF Bostäder or MKB, to furnish the apartments, leaving the students to solve this issue themselves. In many cases, convenience and affordability take priority over sustainability, and students end up buying the cheapest available option — often low-quality “fast furniture” — that is discarded long before the end of its potential life and built with a mix of materials that are difficult to segregate for recycling.
Does the Cohabit model create value for the local economy?
As a small business operating locally, many of our costs, such as transportation and logistics, as well as our revenues remain within the local economy. We also generate value from furniture that might otherwise be discarded as waste.
Based on furnishing just 100 apartments with Cohabit furniture, this model can create up to approximately 700,000 SEK (around €60,000–€65,000) in local economic value each year. As the model scales and operational costs decrease, this value has the potential to grow further.
How do students rent furniture through Cohabit?
A student visits the Cohabit website, chooses either individual pieces or a bundle (for example, a bed, desk, chair, and storage unit for a typical 20 m² apartment), and selects a delivery date. We deliver the furniture, set it up, and at the end of the rental period, we pick it up, clean it, and inspect it so it’s ready for the next student.
Our pricing is designed for flexibility: for short-term stays, paying two to three months of rent costs about the same as buying secondhand, making it affordable and hassle-free. For students staying longer than 24 months, we stop collecting rent beyond that point—only small logistics fees may apply if they want to return or exchange items. This way, students can move in, live comfortably, and move out without the stress of buying or reselling furniture.
Where does your furniture come from?
Furniture comes to us from a variety of sources. Many students leaving their homes are eager to offload furniture, so we buy lots of items at secondhand prices. Others donate pieces simply because they support our concept and want their furniture to have a second life. Occasionally, we have to decline items, such as large double beds that will not fit typical student apartments or furniture that are logistical risks (like glass top tables or bookcases with glass front). In those cases, we help by recommending friends and neighbors or partner secondhand stores.
How do you store and manage furniture between rentals?
We have warehouses in Malmö and Lund, which allow us to bring back furniture for cleaning, quality checks, and small repairs. Ideally, furniture remains in student apartments, generating value while in use, but the warehouses give us flexibility when items need servicing. Our business is highly seasonal: during student move-ins and move-outs, we reach up to 200% capacity. Christmas and summer are our busiest periods, while the rest of the year is more relaxed, giving us time to focus on repairs, quality control, and planning. This balance between active and quieter periods ensures students always receive clean, functional furniture without delay.
What philosophy guides how Cohabit operates and grows?
At Cohabit, we’ve taken a “post-growth” approach. This isn’t the kind of business aiming for rapid, unicorn-style expansion—scaling massively would bring costs and complexity we can’t sustain. Instead, we focus on growing organically within the local community and spreading the idea to other student cities, sharing our knowledge with like-minded entrepreneurs.
As a circular business, collaboration is essential. We rely on mentorship, partnerships, and financial support to make the model work. Unlike a traditional “make-sell” approach, where a product is sold and forgotten, our circular approach requires ongoing care, reuse, and coordination. Each piece of furniture has a life beyond its first user, and learning how to manage that responsibly has shaped the way we operate. Our business philosophy isn’t just about growth—it’s about creating a sustainable, collaborative ecosystem that benefits students, partners, and the environment. Our role in the local ecosystem is to be value-reintegrators, we create new value for people and the planet by matching the furniture with people across time.
What partnerships are essential for Cohabit’s operations?
Partnerships are at the heart of Cohabit’s success. We collaborate with student housing providers like Heimstaden, AF Bostäder, and MKB, which gives us direct access to students and builds trust in our service. For transport, we rely on Eriks Biluthyrning to deliver and collect furniture efficiently. Storage near student housing is provided by Akademiska Hus, helping us scale and reduce logistical complexity. These collaborations allow us to focus on what we do best: making furniture available quickly, sustainably, and conveniently, while keeping costs manageable for students.
As a start-up, how do you measure your impact?
Over the past four years, we have reintegrated about 21 tons of furniture—more than 1,500 individual units. While this is small compared to the overall problem, we aim to increase these numbers each year. Our goal is to show students that they have a choice that supports sustainable consumption, and many tell us they would use this approach again in other contexts.
Even without external investment—aside from a Leapfrogs scholarship—we have generated revenue and covered all costs except for the “human cost”; we are still essentially volunteers. However, we have created a local economic value of 1.7 million SEK (around 160,000 Euro) through our partnerships. This shows the potential for economic value generation in a small-scale circular business.
Based on our results, we have received some awards and recognitions, including being a finalist in the Närlingslivsgala or business gala for Malmö in which we are in the final three of the environment and sustainable development category. Additionally, we received a 2023 Sustainability Award from Nyföretager Centrum Oresund and Sysav.
How does Cohabit balance its vision for sustainability with running a profitable business?
As a social enterprise, Cohabit is driven by a vision to make sustainable consumption convenient, affordable, and accessible. Our goal is broad, and while we may not achieve it overnight, every step brings us closer to creating a model where choosing sustainable options isn’t harder than conventional consumption. If linear consumption is easy, our challenge is to make sustainable consumption just as simple.
I used to think you needed a lot of business experience to be an entrepreneur but you really learn by doing. Circular businesses face many of the same expectations as traditional businesses. We’ve found that collaboration is what makes development and growth possible. Business models often focus on competition, however, our strategy is different as collaboration is a core component of our DNA. We have found that people are often willing to offer support when they see value being created for society.
We are also proving that a business can beboth profitable and sustainable, even when business mentors insist you must choose one or the other. By being frugal and intentional in everyday decisions—like transportation, logistics, and resource use—with social and environmental impact, we strive to deliver value for students, the community, and the planet, while also ensuring financial sustainability. We want to be a business that puts sustainability into everyday decisions. For example, if someone offers furniture from another city, we have to weigh the financial and environmental costs of transportation.
I’ve realised that when people recognize value, they accept imperfection in things and people — perfection isn’t required for impact. For a circular business, you cannot thrive when your partners are not growing with you. It is very important for us to contribute back into the ecosystem which also supports us.
How does Cohabit contribute to the circular economy and support a broader ecosystem of sustainable practices?
At Cohabit, we aim to build an ecosystem where circular businesses can share resources and knowledge. During our off-season, we’re happy to share storage or transport with other early-stage ventures. We’ve benefited from other people sharing their resources and expertise, and we want to continue that practice, encouraging others to explore circular business models.
Our focus is on circulating existing resources, rather than creating new ones. While some circular businesses produce sustainably built new products, we prioritise minimising the use of virgin materials and reducing energy-intensive consumption. We strive to generate social, economic, and environmental value by fostering collaboration, creating win-win strategies, and practising frugality in our operations.
We also emphasise value recognition—acknowledging that imperfect resources or people can still contribute meaningfully. For example, when hiring summer help last year, women returning to the workforce exceeded expectations in skill and dedication. Despite initial concerns about the physical nature of the work, they were passionate and highly skilled at multitasking. As mothers, they have honed and mastered such skills. This taught us to look past stereotypes for hidden potential.
Finally, we’re piloting a hyper-local peer-to-peer sharing platform in Malmö and Lund. While currently, only 3.4% of materials are circulated in Sweden, people are more likely to share with trusted neighbors than strangers–but platforms like Facebook Marketplace focus on strangers. Within secure settings such as housing associations, neighbours can share tools or resources directly, fostering community cohesion and resilience while keeping material circulation local. Eventually, the service will be available for a small annual fee of about 100 SEK (10 Euro) per household.
Where do you see the role of municipalities and regional governments in strengthening local circular business models like yours?
Early-stage circular businesses face high upfront costs, particularly for infrastructure and logistics. Municipalities can play a key role by facilitating resource sharing, for example, making transport vehicles or storage available for small businesses to use collectively. They can also create platforms for visibility, helping local circular ventures reach the right audience and connect with resources efficiently.
While financial support is valuable, practical measures such as shared infrastructure and visibility initiatives can have an even greater impact, enabling circular businesses to grow sustainably and serve their communities more effectively.
What are your biggest challenges?
Our biggest challenges include managing expectations. Our website might show one bed, but we have 40 different beds of the same dimension available in different styles and colours. In a world of Amazon-style shopping, people expect to get exactly what they see. At our scale, this level of choice is not possible as we are a circular business. We are reflecting on how much choice is good and how much we can assure customers that they will receive a functional, comfortable product. While most customers are happy, we have received some feedback about mattress firmness over time.
We work with thin margins because we serve students with budget limitations and labour is expensive in Sweden. Financial sustainability takes longer in a circular model because we have two-way delivery and recovery costs. We also do not want to oversell or over advertise our services as this may add to over consumption. We often recommend that students get furniture from a neighbour, even if it means losing business, as that is more sustainable.
