PROFILE

For today’s new company profile, we spoke to Sylvia Ng, CEO of ReturnBear to learn more about the inspiration, building journey, and what other Founders and Entrepreneurs can learn on their own building and growth journeys.

What is ReturnBear?

ReturnBear is an e-commerce returns company, that runs Canada’s first nationwide returns drop-off network are now expanding globally to offer direct-to-consumer brands Amazon-style instant refunds.

What inspired this idea?

There are over $800B worth of goods being returned in North America every year. These returns are inconvenient for consumers, expensive for brands, and horrible for the planet; most of it goes to landfills because brands can't take the inventory back profitably.

ReturnBear is a network of instant refund return points supported by regional hubs that send products to the next customer, avoiding the need for merchants to ship items back across long distances. Consumers get instant verified refunds instead of waiting weeks, merchants save 30%-60% on return costs, and emissions are reduced by 40% due to shorter shipping distances.

How did you build this?

We started with an MVP in 2022 that included a software based returns portal, 10 Cadillac Fairview malls as return points, and a single hub in Toronto.

What advice would you share with other Founders?

Keep building!

Grit and tenacity are the biggest predictors of success. And as another founder told me, you can simply beat all your competitors by outlasting them.

What has been the hardest part of your journey that’s worth noting?

In the beginning, we worked with small direct-to-consumer merchants, but they were only bringing in around $60k annually per client. It wasn’t sustainable, and we knew we had to pivot to go upmarket.

We explored a lot of options—marketplaces, B2B returns, circular economy solutions—but the clock was ticking, and the anxiety was real. Ultimately, we decided to focus on cross-border returns, and that decision was a turning point. A year later, the results speak for themselves.

Our average contract value has doubled, and we’re working with major cross-border brands like SKIMS and True Classic. That leap of faith transformed ReturnBear into a scalable business, and it reinforced my belief that taking calculated risks is key to long-term success.

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COMMUNITY

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Whether you're a founder, investor, or tech enthusiast, this event will connect you with some of the top companies and founders who are taking careers and ambitions to the moon.

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• We’re hosting a live pitch event for Founders on November 5, where you can submit your pitch deck and get real-time feedback from investors - APPLY HERE
  

• We’re finally hearing about another big raise - read more
  

• EvenUp on the up and up
  

• VendorPM is hiring a Senior Data Engineer
  
  

  
  

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