The Nurturing Co raises S$200,000 in seed round

Singapore

THE Nurturing Co, a sustainable products company based in Singapore focused on creating and distributing products made from bamboo under the Bambooloo brand, has closed its initial angel seed round.

The company raised a sum of S$200,000 from a small group of investors in Singapore and the US.

Bambooloo, the company's own brand of sustainable plastics-free home goods, shipped over 110,000 rolls of its first product, bamboo toilet paper, in Singapore. This saved over 539 kg of one-time-use plastic packaging and prevented over 34.54 million grammes of carbon from being used and entering the environment.

David Ward, The Nurturing Co's founder, said: ''We are happy to share the news of the round closing in the same week we launched the environmental water brand CanO Water in Singapore, as the first market in South-east Asia to help curb the huge issue we face here with plastic bottle water consumption. Our own brand Bambooloo is expanding with new products helping consumers answer their need for more sustainable, less impacting choices.

''The funding will be utilised to help expand our own brand Bambooloo both here and further overseas, as well as fund the creation of additional marketing and brand licensing support materials, plus allow the strengthening of our small team as we prepare to push for additional domestic, international and D2C (direct to consumer) growth.''

He added that the firm decided to close the round as it was a tactical raise.

''We are raising what we need at this time only. Too often, the focus of of a startup is raising money and not about building a solid business. But as a mission-led business, that is not the aim.''

The Nurturing Co already supplies key businesses across various sectors in Singapore including hotel, F&B, vending and retail (both offline and online) in Singapore including Cold Storage, Redmart, Box Green, Salad Stop, Speedy Vending, Unpackt and Scoop Wholefoods Singapore.

A spokesperson for Scoop Wholefoods Singapore said: ''We are happy with the support from The Nurturing Co team, and reactions to the products from our customers who are choosing Bambooloo as a part of their zero waste plastics basket shop with Scoop.''

Mr Ward said: ''Our mission to create and distribute sustainable alternatives with reduced or zero one-time use plastics is gaining velocity, and we will work to deliver alternatives to as many consumers as possible to help them make more positive changes in their own lives.''

He added that there are now plans to expand the Bambooloo range of products to include kitchen and baby products to go along with the bathroom products already in the market.

''There are also plans to expand the licensing partnerships overseas as we have in New Zealand already. Phase two will follow with the launch of Nurturing Co home cleaning products and our water refill station,'' Mr Ward said.