Investor Mark Cuban. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

Cloud Paper, a Seattle-based startup whose core product is toilet paper made from bamboo, has raised $3 million in seed funding from a host of investors led by venture capital firm Greycroft. Along with Greycroft, investors who participated in the seed round include; Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, music star Ciara, Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi, movie stars Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow, Riot Games founder Marc Merill, and NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson. Cloud Paper says it’ll use the new funding to further its business and expand into other tree-free product areas. 

Toilet paper is conventionally made from materials cut down from trees. In fact, it’s estimated that humans use the equivalent of 270,000 trees worth of toilet paper each day. Cloud Paper, with a goal of tackling deforestation, is now providing an alternative in the form of toilet paper made from soft bamboo. Although bamboo itself is a plant, it typically grows and replenishes very quickly, with some species capable of growing 910 mm (36 in) within a 24-hour period. It’s unlike trees whose live spans typically amount to years or tens of years in some species. Cloud Paper is harnessing bamboo’s fast-growing ability to produce toilet paper, one of the most consumed goods worldwide, in order to cut down on deforestation.

Cloud Paper was founded last year by the duo of Ryan Fritsch and Austin Watkins, who both previously worked at Uber and digital freight forwarder Convoy. A tree-free toilet paper is the company’s first product, currently already used by thousands of households and businesses. Cloud Paper aims to expand into product areas in future time, fueled by its new funding.

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