Sequoia Backs Joro: $2.5M for Consumer Carbon Offsets

Sanchali Pal’s awareness of the global climate challenge began with viewing the 2008 documentary, Food Inc.

The Princeton University student first encountered the film in 2011, which subsequently inspired her to create Joro, a startup supported by Sequoia that tracks individual consumer expenditures to provide guidance on minimizing and compensating for one’s carbon footprint.

Following employment at the consulting firm Dalberg, with work experiences in India and Ethiopia, Pal returned to the United States to obtain an MBA from Harvard Business School. While she initially considered a focus on transportation, her thoughts frequently returned to the impact of consumer habits and the potential for lowering CO2 emissions through influencing consumer choices.

“I began considering this during the fall of my first year in business school, but I temporarily set it aside because I lacked a clear path forward. I didn’t have a technical background; I wasn’t a software developer,” Pal explained to Jason Jacobs, host of the My Climate Journey podcast. “I didn’t know how we could gather the data necessary to show someone their carbon footprint and assist them in reducing it until I connected with my co-founder [J. Cressica Brazier] at an MIT event in the spring of that year, two years ago, and then the idea began to take shape – perhaps we could develop a tool together.”

The Joro application utilizes consumer spending information obtained through integrations with Plaid to pinpoint adjustments in users’ everyday practices that can positively affect their overall carbon footprint, based on their individual spending patterns.

The application also incorporates a community aspect, linking users with sustainability initiatives, educational courses, and other learning resources, alongside a social platform for connecting with others and monitoring comparative progress.

This can be viewed as a modern take on the concept of keeping up with the Joneses, but with a focus on environmental well-being and ecological awareness.

To this point, the app’s user base has collectively reduced almost 6 million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020. While this figure is noteworthy, reductions in travel resulting from COVID-19 restrictions suggest that the most significant impact an individual consumer can make is reducing their meat intake. This change alone can lead to approximately 4% reductions in worldwide carbon emissions, equating to about 1,200 pounds of carbon emissions reduced. Considering the 6 million kilograms, this suggests a user base of a little over 10,000 individuals.

Pal declined to disclose the precise number of users currently utilizing the company’s application.

The company has secured $2.5 million in seed funding from investors, including Sequoia Capital, who increased their initial $1 million pre-seed investment made when Joro participated in the firm’s early-stage founder program.

Additional investors and advisors include the venture capital firms Expa and Amasia, as well as angel investors and advisors such as James Park, co-founder of Fitbit; Rich Pierson, co-founder of Headspace; Sebastian Knutsson, chief creative officer and co-founder of King; actress Maisie Williams; Philian, the private investment firm of Karl-Johan Persson, chairman of H&M; Tom Baruch; and Anjula Acharia, a partner at Trinity Ventures.

“At Expa, we prioritize supporting exceptional founders who are deeply committed to the products they are developing,” stated Expa founder Garrett Camp. “We observed this passion in Sanchali – she articulated a compelling vision to us. We are confident that Joro can create a valuable product and a successful business. The world will benefit from what Joro brings to the market.”

Pal believes that modifications in behavior and more conscious consumer decisions can lower an individual’s carbon footprint by as much as 30%.

This concept is also being pursued by other companies. For example, Aspiration, a Los Angeles-based challenger bank established by Andrei Cherny, offers a tool to assess the “social impact” of a consumer’s monthly spending, including the environmental consequences of daily consumption.

Pal envisions that through the app’s educational and community features, consumers can motivate changes within the systems and industries that are the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Systems are comprised of individuals. Like us,” Pal expressed in a blog post. “Companies and governments evolve when enough people demand change through their actions and choices. We are not a complete solution – policymakers and businesses must take significant action. However, we are not without power. Collectively, we can accelerate progress by demonstrating our desire for a more sustainable society.”