ekko Raises £2M to Let Every Purchase Automatically Fund Environmental Causes

ekko, a UK fintech company, has raised £2 million from Scale-up EIS Fund, Republic Europe (formerly Seedrs), and Mishcon de Reya to develop its environmental contribution platform built around a mobile app and prepaid debit card. The company's core proposition is that every time a user makes a purchase using the ekko card, a contribution is automatically made to a curated portfolio of environmental projects — including tree planting, ocean plastic removal, and renewable energy initiatives — without the user needing to take any separate action. Climate contribution becomes a passive outcome of normal spending behaviour.

The challenge ekko is addressing is the gap between the large number of people who express concern about environmental issues and the much smaller number who translate that concern into consistent financial action. Donating to environmental organisations, purchasing carbon offsets, or choosing more expensive sustainable products all require deliberate decisions that most people make inconsistently or not at all, regardless of their stated values. ekko's approach removes this friction by embedding the contribution into the existing payment behaviour — the debit card that users carry and spend with anyway — so that environmental impact accumulates automatically with every coffee, every grocery shop, and every subscription payment, without requiring ongoing intention or effort.

The business model sits alongside an increasingly active category of values-embedded financial products. Challenger banks and fintech companies have experimented with carbon tracking, tree-planting rewards, and sustainability-linked spending features, reflecting consumer appetite for financial products that align with personal values. ekko takes this further by making the environmental contribution the primary product feature rather than an add-on, and by building the project curation and impact verification infrastructure needed to provide users with credible evidence of the outcomes their spending is generating.

The funding will be used to develop the app and card product, build out the environmental project portfolio and impact measurement capabilities, and grow the user base through consumer marketing and partnerships. Mishcon de Reya's involvement as an investor reflects growing engagement from the professional services sector with impact-oriented technology companies.

Sources

• ekko — company website