Joro Announces $10M in Series A Funding from Mission-Aligned Investors

More people than ever before want to live sustainably. A whopping 85% of the global population has been affected by climate change. Google searches for ‘climate anxiety’ grew by 565% from 2020 to 2021. And while green policy is gaining traction and major companies are setting targets to lower emissions, change isn’t happening fast enough.

At Joro, we help people tap into the power of our collective spending choices to build a more sustainable economy. Our free app allows anyone to track, reduce, and offset the emissions of everything they buy.

I’m thrilled to share that we’ve raised $10 million in Series A funding from mission-aligned investors. The round was led by our existing investors at Sequoia Capital and Amasia, with participation from a diverse set of new investors – including artists, entrepreneurs, and climate funds – who believe that climate-conscious consumers are reshaping our world for the better.

Our new investors include the venture arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, Arrive; Norrsken VC, a technology and impact fund founded by Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth; Incite, founded by Swati Mylavarapu and her husband Matt Rogers, co-founder of Nest, and Mike Einzinger, co-founder of the band Incubus, among others. 

“While climate-related tragedies continue to accelerate around the world, most people don’t know where to begin helping by reducing their own footprint,” said Bryan Schreier, partner at Sequoia Capital. “Joro makes it easy by helping consumers track, reduce and offset their carbon emissions. Technology can play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis, and we’re proud to double down on our partnership with Sanchali and team as they empower consumers to make a difference.”

Helping people build more sustainable lifestyles is a huge opportunity for impact: household spending influences over 60% of global emissions. Yet rewiring consumption requires cultural change and broad collaboration. Our new investors bring a unique set of networks and expertise that authentically support low-carbon lifestyles.

Mike Einziger, Co-Founder of Incubus, MIXhalo, & Versicolor Technologies, said it in his own words, “The climate crisis is upon us, and human behaviors must change. Joro is a powerful tool that inspires accountability while providing a personal roadmap toward a better future. For the first time with Joro, we can leap from vague intentions to manifesting and measuring our progress.”

Accelerating the shift to a sustainable way of living 

Since we raised our Seed round, we’ve worked hard to make Joro the fastest, most tangible way to make a climate impact. 

The app is available for download in the US and Canada. Anyone with a credit or debit card can securely connect their spending history to see the carbon footprint of everything they buy – whether it’s a utility bill, takeout, or a flight for the holidays. In the last year, we’ve dramatically improved the quality and accuracy of our carbon footprint algorithms to deliver relevant insights. The best part? Tracking your footprint is free (and always will be).

To make it easy to draw down emissions right away, we recently introduced a personalized carbon offset subscription, which has shown real traction. With the Net Zero Membership, offset everything you buy – or to set a budget for how much of your footprint you want to offset. Our team of expert advisors does the work for you to vet and curate a portfolio of high-quality carbon projects around the world.

And to help you build a lower-carbon lifestyle – and even save money while you’re at it – we’re building out rich content and recommendations. Discover advice on everything from How to be a Sustainable Pet Parent to How to Book More Sustainable Flights. We also just launched a featured action, “How to Switch to a Green Bank”, which walks through how to make sure your savings aren’t financing fossil fuels – with more actions coming soon.

This new round of funding will enable us to add more features and grow our community and impact. In the last few months, we’ve more than tripled our monthly active user base. Earlier this year, we were featured as App of the Day and named as one of the TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022. 

The real power of Joro comes when millions of people make lower-carbon choices, together, sending a signal to companies that we demand a more sustainable economy.

Sanchali Pal

Founder & CEO

Other select perspectives from our investors on why they chose to partner with Joro: 

Amasia’s Ramanan Raghavendran says, "Our climate investment thesis centers on behavior change. We define that broadly, but there is no company that more directly represents our thesis than Joro. This remarkable team is creating a new home for the climate-conscious consumer – an app that helps you shrink your carbon footprint. And a huge further benefit in these times: it also helps you reduce your expenses, period."

Neil Sirni, Co-founder and President of Arrive, Roc Nation’s venture capital division, added, "People increasingly want to know the broader impact of their consumption decisions, including on the environment…With the energy-related conversations currently taking place, we hope and believe there will be further diversification nationally and globally across natural gas, nuclear, coal, and emergent renewable solutions over the next several decades. For those consumers that want to learn more about sustainability and understand their personal impact in real-time, we believe that Joro can be that tool for decades to come."

"Norrsken VC is dedicated to backing founders who are using scalable technology to address the world’s greatest challenges.”, said Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of Klarna and founder of Norrsken Foundation. “We’re proud to join Sanchali and Joro on their journey to empower every individual to understand and manage their climate footprint. Households influence 65% of global emissions, so we can all do our part in tackling the climate crisis."

“More and more people around the world are looking for tangible, impactful actions they can take to stem climate change right now.”, said Swati Mylavarapu, Co-Founder of Incite. “Sanchali and her team have built the most thoughtful product we’ve seen to answer this call. The well-designed Joro app makes it extremely easy to get started measuring and reducing your personal carbon footprint.”

Editor's Note

Since our Series A fundraising, Joro has been rebranded as Commons. Read more about the Commons rebrand.

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Sanchali Pal
October 27, 2022
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