Mar 8, 2022

London company raises £3.8 million to tackle greenwashing with blockchain transparency technology for brands Share: Provenance, a provider of sustainability marketing technology, has raised £3.8 million to accelerate its goal to empower a billion citizens to choose products that match their values. Provenance says its pioneering ‘Proof Point’ technology empowers online shoppers to make positive purchases for people and planet, by surfacing trustworthy, proof-backed sustainability claims at the point of sale. It also enables brands and retailers that are making a positive social and environmental impact to grow market share by increasing shopper engagement, conversion and trust. Proof Points are digital sustainability claims that sit in eCommerce pages and enable shoppers to click through to view relevant evidence or independent verification. Provenance says this transparency tech solution is already driving a 27% increase in conversion and a 2.8x increase in engagement at point of sale. Provenance has tripled its customer base in the last 12 months and is now empowering 150+ leading brands and retailers across the food & drink, beauty and fashion industries, including Cult Beauty, Douglas, GANNI, Napolina, Arla and Unilever. Provenance is currently live in 18 markets across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. “Provenance is fighting greenwash with transparency tech, and helping brands unlock commercial value from their positive social and environmental impact,” said founder and CEO Jessi Baker. “We’re already driving results for small independent brands and global brand groups alike, and we can’t wait to expand our community. “This funding will help us grow our first-class team and product and accelerate our goal to empower a billion citizens to choose products that match their values.” Proof Point technology supports digitised claims from ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Fully Recyclable Packaging’ to ‘Living Wage’ and ‘Female Owned Business’. Provenance works with 81 verifiers and over 20 certification bodies – including B Corp, Soil Association, Leaping Bunny and GOTS – to enable brands to surface third-party verification online. Provenance’s latest raise brings together world-class investor expertise from across the impact, consumer brand tech and Web3 ecosystems. The round was led by Working Capital Innovation Fund and Nordic Eye with participation from The Brandtech Group and Digital Currency Group. Strategic angels include Nicolas Cary (Blockchain.com), Jon Reynolds (SwiftKey) and Peter Gabriel (musician & activist). Provenance will invest the funds to develop its software product and supercharge brand and shopper reach. Following the appointment of Phil Verey as managing director in January, the company also plans to scale its team size to 50+ in 2022, investing in talent across product and engineering, sales, marketing and partnerships. David Jones, CEO of The Brandtech Group, said: “I first met Jessi in 2015 when I was launching the company and she was one of the first people to tell me how important blockchain was going to be. She’s been proven right. “What Provenance has built combines cutting edge technology with the power of the community. We’re very excited by the potential for growth in what is a huge addressable market, as brands and investors become increasingly focused on sustainability and ESG and also by the possibilities that Provenance’s Web3 foundations will enable.”