Four out of every five shoppers are changing their purchase preferences based on sustainability. However, a mere 53% of shoppers admit they can’t tell the truth apart from greenwashing when it comes to product claims.
Changing the scenario is women-led Provenance, the sustainability marketing tech company empowering online shoppers to make positive purchases for people and planet, by surfacing proof-backed sustainability claims at the point of sale. The London-based startup has now raised $5 million to accelerate its goal to empower 1 billion citizens to choose products that match their values.
The round was led by Working Capital Innovation Fund and Nordic Eye with participation from The Brandtech Group and Digital Currency Group. Strategic angels include Nicolas Cary (Blockchain.com), Jon Reynolds (SwiftKey) and Peter Gabriel (musician and activist).
The new funds will drive its software product development and supercharge the brand and its shopper reach.
The platform is also helping brands and retailers to make a positive social and environmental impact by growing market share via increasing shopper engagement, conversion and trust. Proof Points are digital sustainability claims that sit in e-commerce pages and enable shoppers to click through to view relevant evidence or independent verification. It supports digitised claims from ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Fully Recyclable Packaging’ to ‘Living Wage’ and ‘Female Owned Business’.
Jessi Baker, founder and CEO, Provenance, said: “We are fighting greenwash with transparency tech, and helping brands unlock commercial value from their positive social and environmental impact. This funding will help us grow our team and product to empower 1 billion citizens to choose products that match their values.”
Dan Viederman, partner, Working Capital Innovation Fund, said: “To change global supply chains for the better, we urgently need greater transparency about products’ social and environmental impact.”
Christian Tarp, partner and CIO, Nordic Eye, said: “Shoppers are increasingly voting with their wallets for the world they want to see. But they’re also wary of greenwashing, and brands that are making genuine progress on sustainability are struggling to win the deserved commercial returns on their ESG initiatives. This scalable solution is helping brands increase engagement, conversion and trust in today’s key battleground of e-commerce.”
Live in 18 markets across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, the tech solution is driving a 27% increase in conversion and a 2.8x increase in engagement at point of sale currently. The startup has witnessed a tripling of its customer base in the last 12 months and currently caters to clients such as Cult Beauty, Douglas, GANNI, Napolina, Arla and Unilever.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments