FinTech News
Future Raises $5.3 Million for Climate Change-Fighting Debit Card
A FinTech looking to help consumers make more eco-conscience purchasing choices has announced a fresh round of investment, This week, Future revealed a $5.3 million investment. The seed round was led by Accomplice, while Active Impact Investments, Techstars Ventures, Urban Impact Ventures, and Climate Capital also participated alongside author and activist Baratunde Thurston. With the newly-acquired funds, Future plans to make its debit card more rewarding for customers by attracting additional brands to its rewards ecosystem.
Future is a new debit card that encourages consumers to choose more Earth-friendly options. As the company notes, while many rewards cards put an emphasis on air travel or gas via their cashback offerings, Future is seeking to do the opposite. Currently, cardholders can earn 5% back on “FutureGreen” selections. These include select public transit options, online marketplaces that sell secondhand clothing, EV charging stations, bike shoes, and other green transportation options, such as electric scooters and bikeshares.
In total, Future says there are more than 50,000 places in the United States where customers will earn 5% back. Additionally, customers can earn 6% back when using their card to make purchases from FuturePartnerx. All other purchases will earn 1% back.
Commenting on the idea behind Future, the company’s CEO Jean-Louis Warnholz said in a statement, “There’s a common misconception that reducing carbon emissions in our day-to-day life is hard and expensive. Future is on a mission to change that by connecting our members with brands, products, and services that are good for your wallet and good for the planet.”
Accomplice co-founder Ryan Moore said of the FinTech, “We are thrilled to lead this investment in Future. More and more consumers across the country are looking for simple and rewarding ways to do right by our planet. Future is building a new category of financial product that helps them do just that.”
Previously, a version of the Future card was launched using Imprint — a platform that allows brands to create digital rewards cards. This initial version would link to users’ banking accounts and pull funds for purchases made using Future card. Accounts for the Imprint Future card were officially closed on September 1st to make way for this latest product.
Although Future isn’t the first environmentally-minded FinTech to emerge, the company’s approach does seem to differ from others such as Aspiration. In fact, the company’s press release highlighted one big differentiation point, noting, “Future doesn’t use members’ points to plant trees or buy other carbon offsets. Instead, the focus is on making low-carbon products and services more readily accessible for families and individuals across America.” That twist could certainly earn Future favor as it now looks to expand. As for whether this debit card could see success similar to the aforementioned Aspiration, we’ll have to wait and see.
