TreeCard, a fintech that plants trees when money is spent using its wooden card, has secured $23m (£19.2m) in a Series A funding round led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
Through its partner Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees based on ad revenue, TreeCard plants one tree for every $50 (£41) spent using its physical wooden card or virtually.
The cost of the trees is covered by the profits of merchant transaction fees.
“There is a desire, and an urgent need, to be more sustainable but too often people don’t know where to start or aren’t sure about the right way to go about it,” said Jamie Cox, co-founder and CEO of TreeCard.
Valar Ventures was joined in the TreeCard Series A by World Fund, EQT Ventures, Seedcamp, Episode 1, Dylan Field and Josh Browder.
TreeCard, which is currently in beta in the US, will use the Series A capital to grow its team and launch before the end of the year.
Founded in 2020 by Jamie Cox, TreeCard says it has already planted more than 200,000 trees.
Tom Mendoza, partner at EQT Ventures, said: “At EQT Ventures, we believe that some of the largest consumer companies in the coming decade will emerge from the intersection of climate and fintech.”
London-based TreeCard’s funding follows its £3.6m raise in February last year.