USD Alumni-Owned Company, EcoCart, Raises $3 Million to Reduce Shoppers’ Carbon Emissions

EcoCart is a USD alumni-owned company changing the e-commerce shopping landscape by giving online shoppers the option to make a small purchase at checkout to help offset the carbon footprint of their order. Co-founded by USD School of Business alumni, Dane Baker '19 BBA '19 and Peter Twomey '19 BBA, EcoCart continues to reach new heights. Recently, the duo raised $3 million in financing as they strive to offset shoppers' carbon emissions.

Excerpt from TechCrunch:

EcoCart, a company pitching consumers on ways to offset their carbon emissions for free at select merchants (with a browser extension!) has raised $3 million in financing from Base10 Partners.

Brands pay the company a commission to drive traffic to their websites under a standard affiliate marketing model and EcoCart uses a portion of the proceeds to offset a shopper’s carbon emissions.

About 10,000 companies work with EcoCart, either through direct partnerships or passive affiliate marketing services. EcoCart also offers a carbon accounting tool for businesses and an offsetting offering for them as well, according to co-founders Peter Twomey and Dane Baker.

The San Francisco-based startup uses services like ClimeCo and BlueSource to source and aggregate offset projects that companies can finance.

The two co-founders, who met at the University of San Diego, previously founded a startup called Toyroom, which rented outdoor equipment to customers in an effort to reduce unnecessary consumption.

“We live this problem ourselves. We realized it was incredibly difficult to maintain this sustainability ethos,” Baker said. 

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“We believe EcoCart is reinventing how brands interact with their customers while also managing and addressing their environmental impact at scale,” said Chris Zeoli, principal at Base10 Partners, in a statement.