Novi Connect Notches $40M to Drive Sustainability

Novi Connect, a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for sustainable, innovative ingredients and packaging, raised $40 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global.

The round also saw participation from Defy.vc and Greylock, and the new funding brings Novi’s total investments to more than $51 million.

The fresh infusion of capital will be used to develop new technology, expand its sustainable ingredients, fragrances and packaging, and build out its reach to tap new markets such as home care and food, according to a Friday (Feb. 4) press release.

“Pre-Novi, brands would spend weeks hunting down materials and interpreting disparate material documentation to determine if they met complex industry standards,” CEO and founder Kimberly Shenk said in the release.

“Novi collects, digests and digitizes all of this data, ensuring real-time accuracy against ever-changing standards and claims, which allow our users to make procurement decisions around sustainability more efficiently and with confidence,” Shenk added.

See also: Sustainable Supplier Marketplace Novi Raises $10.3M

Headquartered in Larkspur, California, Novi Connect was launched in 2020 by Shenk, a MIT graduate and Air Force veteran. The startup strives to help consumer brands bring products to market with more sustainable materials, with the goal of driving revenue while positively impacting the planet.

The startup experienced 9x growth in consumer brands last year, according to the release, and has worked with brands such as Smashbox, Seventh Generation, Unilever and more, all seeking to meet consumer demand for sustainable products.

“Novi has become the clear front-runner in terms of innovative sourcing platforms,” Donna Petretti, head of North American marketing at Croda, said in the release. “Every week we are getting new Indie leads from Novi for customers who want to formulate with our sustainable ingredients.

“This type of platform delivers true transparency and is the future of the beauty industry.”

Read more: Retailers Aim to Define Sustainability While They’re Rushing to Embrace It

Novi recently rolled out an ingredient screening tool, available to the public, to vet ingredients against “complex data-dense standards including Certified Vegan, Clean at Sephora and EWG VERIFIED in a move to make sustainability more accessible to SMB brands.”