A New Fund and a Call to Action

Collab Fund has raised a $200M fund to invest in companies fueling a consumer economy based on more sustainable goods, materials, ingredients, and supply chains. Our criteria for investing is simple:

Is your product or service better for the planet, without asking consumers to sacrifice?

The back half of that statement is our bullseye.

Tesla doesn’t ask us to sacrifice on speed or aesthetics.

Impossible Foods doesn’t ask us to compromise on taste.

Stella McCartney doesn’t ask us to sacrifice on style.

And these pioneers are not alone.

Allbirds is using recycled plastic bottles to make their laces.

Rothy’s uses algae-based foam for their insoles.

Patagonia is using discarded fishing nets as a material in their jackets.

Daily Harvest launched The Almond Project to preserve natural resources, support regenerative approaches, and protect farming communities.

The Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle is on its way to becoming the first net zero certified arena in the world. This includes the construction materials being used to build the arena, the food and cutlery used at the concession stands, and everything in between. They’re even collecting rainwater off of the roof, holding it in a 15,000-gallon cistern and using that to resurface the ice on hockey game nights!

Etsy’s environmental goals include powering its marketplace with 100% renewable electricity and running zero waste operations globally. The company says it was the first ecommerce company to offset carbon emissions from shipping, which it did in 2019.

Lyft has made a commitment to use 100% Electric Vehicles by 2030.

Flexport launched a dashboard to help supply chain and logistics teams quickly assess and manage sustainability programs—such as: enrolling and participating in carbon offset programs; as well as analyze shipment emissions through third-party providers, initiate product donations, and run reports on social-minded shipments for good.

Through a partnership with Watershed, Sweetgreen embarked on an effort to better understand their total greenhouse gas emissions produced across all touchpoints of their business. As a result of that exercise, they’ve committed to becoming Carbon Neutral by 2027.

The majority of Aesop’s bottles are comprised of a minimum of 97% recycled material sourced from post-consumer kerbside recycled content and over 80% of the PET in their packaging is now from recycled sources.

By 2025 Lovevery is committed to having 90% of the materials used in their products and packaging made from renewable, biobased, or recycled materials.

And we could keep going.

This isn’t a fad or a temporary thing.

Consumers, particularly younger consumers, are demanding products and services that more closely align with their values.

The leading companies understand this and are adapting quickly — not out of a sense of charity or moral back-patting, but because they know it is good for their bottom line and will position them to take market share from legacy companies, who either don’t get it or are driven solely by opportunistic marketing rather than authentic values alignment.

We are calling this new fund, Collab/SOS.

It represents the urgency and call to action needed at this moment and we are excited to share that we’ve already made a number of investments in companies reimagining the consumer economy with more sustainable solutions. These investments reflect our interest in organizations with specific methodologies—such as synthetic biology and precision fermentation—driving impact in creative new ways.

In an effort to embed incremental value to the portfolio, we were intentional in raising capital from some of the largest purchasers of materials. Collab SOS can not only provide financial support to emerging companies working on sustainable solutions, but that we can act as a conduit and facilitator in providing customer introductions.

For over a decade, we’ve been investing in culturally impactful brands. And now climate is inextricably a part of culture.

As a part of announcing this effort, we’re pleased to share some of the companies we’ve already backed from Collab SOS. Check them out and let us know if you are interested in working with them. They are all growing and hiring!

Now is the time to focus our energy and resources to accelerate this movement. Are you working on new materials? Building better supply chains? Reducing greenhouse emissions? Is your company promoting a more sustainable world?

We want to do it with you.

—Team Collab

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