Meet the founding father of GreenGrowth

When investing, your capital is in danger. 

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GreenGrowth was named one among Europe’s high wealthtech startups to look at in 2022. Their unimaginable mission to “empower shoppers to take a position and spend for a extra sustainable world” has captured the hearts, and pockets, of VC agency SFC Capital and famend fintech buyers. 

Their cellular app, customized constructed from the bottom up by GreenGrowth’s CTO Luke, affords individuals a bespoke portfolio tailor-made to their carbon footprint. The crew has developed the primary funding algorithm that ties your private affect to your investments.

Chris Webb, CEO and co-founder, sat down with us to inform us extra about GreenGrowth, their crew, what units them aside and plans for the long run. 

You established GreenGrowth in 2020, what did your profession appear to be earlier than that?

Whereas the corporate was created in 2020, we didn’t launch till mid-2021 when I discovered my co-founders, Marc and Luke.

Earlier than GreenGrowth I labored as an Environmental Supervisor and Guide. I used to be closely concerned within the sustainability sector, primarily inside building and engineering. For instance, I labored on main engineering initiatives just like the newly launched Elizabeth Line in London. It was rewarding to make an actual distinction and cut back the carbon footprint and environmental impacts of such huge initiatives.

What’s GreenGrowth and what downside does it remedy?

Making an attempt to take a position sustainably is difficult, ask anybody who’s within the business they usually’ll inform you that. You’ve bought ESG Scores (which no person can resolve on by the best way), Paris Aligned investments, Internet Zero Funds and every part in between.

In case you’re a daily individual making an attempt to ‘make your cash make change’ as we wish to name it, it’s an absolute minefield on the market! 

GreenGrowth is a sustainable investing app, and  our mission is to empower shoppers to take a position and spend for a extra sustainable world. Our purpose is to make sustainable investing as clear and easy-to-understand as potential, displaying our customers in easy phrases, the place their cash is invested and the affect it’s having on the setting round us.

Additionally, there aren’t many choices. Folks can’t make it private to them and their day-to-day affect. Whether or not we prefer it or not, all of us have an effect on the planet, from our direct and oblique carbon emissions, to the plastic waste we produce, simply to call just a few. Sustainable investing completely doesn’t excuse these behaviours, however we’ve developed the primary funding algorithm that ties your private affect to your investments.

GreenGrowth affords the selection of a portfolio that’s tailor-made to your environmental footprint, investing your cash closely within the areas you will have the best carbon footprint.

What does the GreenGrowth crew appear to be?

Effectively firstly, and I do know it sounds tacky, however I couldn’t have requested for higher co-founders. There’s presently simply three of us in GreenGrowth (sure we achieved all this with simply three and I’m unashamedly proud) and we had been born within the midst of the pandemic.

Marc is our sustainable investments ‘guru’ and brings a wealth of expertise as each an expert monetary economist and an asset funding supervisor. One factor that consistently impresses me about Marc is that even after a massively profitable profession with among the greatest wealth managers and household officers on the market, he’s blissful to struggle it out with us within the trenches of constructing a start-up from the bottom up.

Each nice crew wants an incredible technical wizard and Luke is ours. Luke held a number of management positions at fintech start-ups and I’ve by no means met somebody with such an unimaginable eye for element. Fuelled by hobnobs and thin latte’s, he has single handedly constructed the GreenGrowth app as it’s at present, a fully excellent feat that I’d problem another CTO to!

What does your aggressive panorama appear to be and the way does GreenGrowth differentiate itself? 

Anybody within the finance or fintech area is aware of that the following decade will see the largest transition into sustainability. Consequently there are companies which have rightly seen it as an untapped alternative, however we’re seeing organisations settle out into their nicely outlined niches.

At GreenGrowth we’ve discovered our personal for various causes:

• We’re the primary and solely funding platform providing buyers a personalised portfolio based mostly on their carbon footprint
• Our descending pricing construction is exclusive in that it rewards loyalty in a manner not seen on different sustainable investments platforms. The longer a buyer stays with us, the much less they may pay in charges, making us very aggressive over the long run.
• Customers can select to take a position in keeping with their carbon footprint as above and in environmental points which are most vital to them. 
• Customers can assemble their very own portfolio by deciding on environmental themes from Clear Vitality to Sustainable Agriculture, that they want to put money into, and what number they want every theme to be of their whole portfolio.
• We present customers the environmental affect of their private investments in probably the most detailed and granular manner potential, of any investments platform.

What’s the massive imaginative and prescient for GreenGrowth?

To be the house of Inexperienced Private Finance.

I see us attaining this imaginative and prescient utilizing a two pronged strategy:

1. To construct probably the most characteristic wealthy and simple to make use of finance app on the earth
2. To develop into thought leaders within the area of sustainable finance, to contribute to the controversy and lead us out of this muddy world of unreliable and incompatible ESG metrics.

At a extra granular degree we purpose to be working inside a number of geographies inside 5 years. With out giving freely too many surprises, we’re planning to supply a variety of thrilling monetary merchandise together with our personal GreenGrowth Funds and Non-public Fairness investments.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I’m very keen about health; people had been designed to maneuver and it’s good for our our bodies and our brains. If I ever come up towards a roadblock in enterprise, a superb exercise often helps clear it! I principally do CrossFit however I’m presently coaching for my first Triathlon in June.

In case you weren’t constructing Inexperienced Development, what do you assume you’d be doing? 

Undoubtedly one thing sustainability or local weather change associated.

Everyone knows by now, local weather change is the largest problem dealing with EVERYONE on earth but it surely’s insidious… It’s gradual, gradual and virtually invisible so it doesn’t get the pressing motion it requires. However I assure it would have an effect on, or has already affected each one among us. 

Consequently, crucial, impactful and life-saving  companies of the following 100 years shall be those who remedy the innumerable points that come up from local weather change, whether or not or not it’s flooding, meals and water shortages, drought and forest fires, rising temperatures or biodiversity decline. How may you NOT wish to be a part of the answer for that?

Highly effective and provoking  phrases from Chris. GreenGrowth is dedicated to a mission past simply themselves. We’re excited to see how they’ll mix sustainability and finance on their quest to construct one of the best finance app… on the earth! 
Wish to be part of their story? Try their marketing campaign right here.