Green FinTech TreeCard Raises $23M

Environmentally conscious money app TreeCard is $23 million richer following a Series A funding round.

According to published reports Wednesday (Nov. 30), the British company will use the funding to expand its staff, with the goal of doubling the size of its team. The round was led by Valar Ventures, owned by billionaire Peter Thiel.

Founded in 2020, TreeCard offers users a wooden debit card as well as a spending and money management platform. The company uses 80% of its profits from card interchange fees to plant trees, saying it has planted more than 200,000 so far.

As PYMNTS reported earlier this month, this year has been a good one for climate tech funding, with a recent PwC report showing climate tech investment in the 12 months to Q3 2022 represented more than a quarter of all venture capital (VC) invested worldwide.

And that was before this month’s COP27 climate summit, which ended with a number of deals in that sector.

For example, the European Investment Fund (EIF), a private equity (PE) and VC financier run by the EU member states, has pledged to invest $254 million, including $77 million targeted at increasing funding for greenfield energy and circular economy projects in Spain and financing renewable energy infrastructure development in Europe.

And the U.K. has committed roughly $77 million to help speed the development of new green technologies and to help fund the country’s clean energy industry.

In a press release announcing the investment, the government stated its goal to become a global cleantech powerhouse and help other countries transition to renewable energy.

“At COP27 we are leading international efforts to ensure these new innovations can be more accessible and affordable to heavy, energy-intensive industries in some of the world’s poorest countries,” the release said.