FinTech News
Impact Karma Raises $5.5 Million Seed Round
Another environmentally-focused FinTech has raised a new round of funding.
About the round:
Impact Karma has announced a $5.5 million seed round. As Triangle Inno reports, the round included investments from 37 firms — although they were not specified. The site also notes that, according to a securities filing, the startup anticipates that the round will reach $7.2 million.
Prior to this round, Impact Karma had raised capital via three debt rounds. This includes an $800,000 round last year. The recent seed round included both conversions of promissory notes and equity agreements.
About Impact Karma and Karma Wallet:
News of this funding comes as Impact Karma prepares to officially launch its Karma Wallet platform. In February, the company will fully roll out its reloadable debit card product that offers customers cashback at select eco-friendly retailers. The startup’s co-founder Jayant Khadilkar told Triangle Inno that the company has already signed on more than 1,000 sustainable merchants to join the program, offering up to 20% back.
In addition to the debit card program, Karma Wallet also aims to help consumers better understand their environmental impact. This includes offering ratings of more than 15,000 businesses, as well as providing users with an environmental “credit score” highlighting the carbon footprint of a consumer’s shopping habits.
Impact Karma is a Certified B Corporation and a participant in the 1% for the Planet program. As such, the company donates 1% of its profits to various charities and non-profits.
In related news:
Incidentally, Impact Karma isn’t the only environmental FinTech to recently raise funds. Earlier this month, Future closed a $6.5 million round for its platform, which encourages consumers to make more climate-conscious spending decisions. On top of that, Future announced its acquisition of Fan Rewards — an AI-driven rewards platform.
My thoughts:
As the heavily-backed climate FinTech Aspiration continues to pivot away from its consumer finance roots (while still keeping its banking features alive for now), it seems that other startups are ready to fill that void. While Future has a headstart in terms of funding and debut, Impact Karma and its Karma Wallet aren’t far behind. And while these platforms are indeed competitors, considering they all have a common goal that’s much larger than any of them, a victory for one should be considered a win for all.
Seeing as Karma Wallet has yet to officially launch, it’s hard to say how the product will compare to the likes of FutureCard. But, assuming Impact Karma can meet its February roll-out plans, hopefully we’ll have more insight on that front soon enough.
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