Cloud Paper is a tree-free paper manufacturer that makes paper products made with 100% bamboo. The company has put itself on the honorable mission to put an end to the rampant deforestation plaguing our world today, from paper products
The company was founded back in 2019 by former Uber and Convoy executives Ryan Fritsch and Austin Watkins. After realizing that Americans use the equivalent of “a Central Park-worth” of trees every day, they built up this company. And not just using, making them unrecyclable by literally flushing them down the toilet every day. Realizing this, they understood that it was their job to give their bit in putting an end to deforestation. After coming to this conclusion, they joined forces with another ex-Convoy colleague in the person of Tori Kiss.
Cloud Paper started with the aim of bringing customers a more sustainable alternative to paper with its first product, an ultra-soft bamboo-based toilet paper, delivered to your door for the same price as traditional brands. Basically a tree-free substitute to traditional paper brands with no really noticeable differences. Cloud paper’s tree-free 3-ply toilet paper arrives at your doorstep via home subscription with zero-plastic packaging and carbon-neutral deliveries, making it even more sustainable and more environmentally friendly.
In 2020, Cloud paper announced that it had raised $3 million in a seed round of funding with a lead investment from Greycroft and a group of notable investors. And Cloud Paper’s first round of funding positions the brand as an industry innovator and forest defender in a time when wildfires are devastating forests across the West Coast.
The timely round of funding — amid growing climate concerns — will accelerate Cloud Paper’s expansion into more tree-free product categories. And in addition to Greycroft, investments also came from Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, Marc Benioff, Mark Cuban, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Ciara, serial-entrepreneur Grant Ries, Muse Capital, Ashley Merrill, and Marc Merrill and others.
COMPANY DETAILS
Headquarters Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
Headquarters Regions: Greater Seattle Area, West Coast, Western US
Founded Date: 2019
Founders: Austin Watkins, Ryan Fritsch
Operating Status: Active
Last Funding Type: Seed
Legal Name: Cloud Paper, INC.
Company Type: For Profit
KEY QUOTES
“Every person can save 100+ trees in their lifetime by making a switch to tree-free products, like Cloud Paper. We’re on a mission to make that happen. Cloud Paper can help save a billion trees in the years ahead, and it’s incredibly validating to have investors and advocates join us in that mission.”
— Austin Watkins
“We know that deforestation is a leading cause of climate change. We’re giving every person an opportunity to be a part of the solution by preserving forests every day. We are resetting the status quo by moving away from tree-based paper and using ultra-sustainable, renewable resources like bamboo instead.”
— Ryan Fritsch
“Ryan and Austin are combining their tech backgrounds with their passion for impacting lasting change to bring consumers and businesses category-changing, eco-friendly products. We see tremendous opportunity for Cloud Paper to capture and expand market share by addressing the unmet demand for sustainable alternatives to everyday household and office products.”
— Dana Settle, co-founder of Greycroft