Finch 👣

setting the scene

• nothing says climate change like summer temperatures in November 🥵

• to lower your environmental footprint, you start to look closer at the labels on your food, products, and clothing ♻️

• half the labels claim "all-natural," "eco-friendly," "chemical free," "non-toxic," "organic," or "clean"

  • are all these products good for the planet? how are you supposed to filter out the greenwashers and identify the best options?

• this week's company helps consumers take control of their environmental footprint by providing sustainability scores on household products 💡

in a sentence

Finch provides product sustainability information to online shoppers through a browser extension

• product sustainability: products from toilet paper to sunscreen are analyzed via 250+ science-backed sources and ranked from 0-10, based on:

  • carbon emissions, ecological footprint, impact on well-being, waste production, and use of water and raw materials

• shoppers: Finch sells consumer data to brands to help them understand the eco-friendly customer

• extension: the plug-in reveals product scores and sustainable alternatives to Amazon shoppers

bulleted version: similar to how Booking.com rates hotels to inform customers of the best hotel options, Finch provides sustainability rankings to help consumers select the right products 🏨

the basics

• industry: clean tech, e-commerce, browser extension

• headquarters: New York, NY 🍏

• year founded: 2020

• company size: 7 employees

• investors: Amasia Ventures, Ryan Hudson, Techstars 

• amount raised: $1.5m, closing seed round

• business model: b2b e-commerce partnerships, selling user data to CPG brands

due diligence

what we like

• 🛍 empowering sustainable shoppers: while 2/3 of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, most struggle to identify the best options due to label confusion and greenwashing

• 🤑 greener corporations: companies are struggling to identify their customers' demands for sustainability, and Finch can help them identify consumer preferences and supply chain shortcomings

  • spend on ESG business services will reach $158b by 2025

• 📉 decreasing emissions: countries, cities, and corporations are pledging net zero in 10-20 years, and Finch holds consumers and companies accountable in the urgent fight against climate change

potential risks

• 🔌 extent of the extension: browser extensions are difficult to scale, and less than 2% of Chrome extensions surpassed 100,000 users last year

  • will this tool enable Finch to become the e-commerce standard for sustainability scoring?

• 🏷 selling to consumer brands: while large CPG brands can pay sizable checks, selling data to low-margin companies may cause longer sales cycles and a lower serviceable obtainable market

• 💰 immediate revenue: Finch can only scale their customer base when they have enough data from consumers on the platform

founder profile

• Lizzie Horvitz (CEO; prev. @ Muuse, Unilever)

comps

• HowGood

• Numerator

• Good On You

• askBelynda

• DoneGood

why Finch: with a 53% 4-week rolling retention and thousands of individuals who trust their browser extension and environmental expertise, the company's early traction suggests sustainable success 📈

• we'll be back in two weeks!

• for those of you stuffing your faces with sweet potatoes and turkey next week, enjoy the food coma 🤤

• if the two-week void is too long, you can find our past letters on our website 

-bp & ss