Peter Thiel's VC fund backs TreeCard, a fintech that plants trees when you spend

TreeCard, a climate-conscious integer wealth app, raised $23 cardinal from investors successful a caller financing round.

Founded by British entrepreneur Jamie Cox successful October 2020, TreeCard is simply a caller conception successful the fintech world. It offers users a spending and wealth absorption level tied to a debit paper made from wood.

The steadfast uses 80% of the profits it makes from paper interchange fees to works trees done a concern with greenish hunt motor Ecosia. TreeCard has truthful acold planted much than 200,000 trees.

The woody underscores accrued involvement by VC investors successful companies addressing clime change. Funding for clime tech startups deed a grounds $111 cardinal successful 2021, according to a report from U.K. startup web Tech Nation.

"There's hundreds of millions of radical successful the satellite who are changing their behaviour based connected the environment," Cox told CNBC successful an interview. "There isn't a ace app for the situation yet."

Super apps enactment arsenic all-in-one platforms that service a scope of idiosyncratic needs spanning instant messaging, banking and travel. Cox envisages TreeCard becoming a ace app focused connected clime — his app includes a crippled that lets users visualize however galore trees their enactment has helped produce, for example.

Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures was the largest capitalist successful TreeCard's round, portion EQT, Seedcamp and climate-centric task superior steadfast World Fund besides chipped in. Valar is simply a prolific capitalist successful fintech, having antecedently taken stakes successful the likes of Wise and N26.

The platform, which is inactive operating successful beta investigating mode, plans to usage the backing for an authoritative motorboat aboriginal successful 2023. In addition, TreeCard volition usage the currency to turn its astir 30-person team, with the purpose of astir doubling successful size.

TreeCard is presently lone disposable successful the U.S., with a waitlist of much than 250,000 clients. It is present gradually onboarding users. TreeCard plans to motorboat successful the U.K. and Europe, too, "hopefully soon," Cox said. 

Though based successful the U.K., TreeCard chose the U.S. arsenic its motorboat market. The U.S. has been a pugnacious spot for rival European fintechs. Monzo pulled its exertion to get a U.S. banking license, portion N26 shuttered its American operations completely.

TreeCard isn't a slope itself but offers its accounts done Sutton Bank, a regulated lender.

Higher rates connected the fees merchants indispensable wage each clip a lawsuit uses their paper to walk marque the U.S. a much lucrative accidental than Europe, TreeCard's CEO said.

But according to Cox, what European fintechs often get incorrect successful the U.S. is not realizing "the benignant of requirements connected a concern merchandise are precise antithetic to Europe."

"When finance-type companies travel from Europe, they don't recognize intimately the American audience," helium told CNBC.

"Rewards are astir ever beforehand and halfway for particularly spending products but a batch of concern products. It's much of an afterthought successful Europe."

TreeCard offers clients up to 3% of annualized involvement connected their deposits, a diagnostic it offers done third-party vendors.

"The committedness determination is that your funds aren't utilized for fossil substance investments," Cox said.

Banks person channeled monolithic sums of wealth to enactment fossil substance companies down the years. Analysis from run groups Urgewald, Reclaim Finance and much than 2 twelve different NGOs recovered that commercialized banks channeled $1.5 trillion to the ember industry betwixt January 2019 and November past year.

TreeCard's backing besides defies immoderate of the troubles being faced successful the fintech sector, wherever firms are putting listing plans connected crystal and cutting backmost connected expenses to brace for a apt recession. Klarna, the bargain now, wage aboriginal firm, saw its valuation plunge 85% successful July, and laid disconnected 10% of its workforce.

"We volition beryllium hiring but we person to beryllium careful," Cox said. "The situation is antithetic from past year."

He added: "The cardinal happening is that businesses implicit the adjacent twelvemonth and a fractional probably, user businesses are going to person to find ways to turn that aren't conscionable conventional, 'plow loads of wealth into Facebook ads and get users.' That's not going to beryllium the sustainable exemplary of growth."

While astatine university, Cox founded a institution called Cashew, which helium described arsenic "Venmo for the U.K." He aboriginal joined Peter Thiel's Thiel Fellowship, a two-year entrepreneurship program, wherever helium started unreality computing startup FluidStack.