Gaming Lifestyle Co Razer’s New Green Fund Makes First Investment Into Plastic-Free Toilet Paper Startup Bambooloo

Razer, a billion-dollar global lifestyle brand for gamers, recently launched a new US$50 million Razer Green Fund and its very first green investment is in Bambooloo, a Singapore-based zero waste home goods brand focused on greening toilet paper.

As part of its plan to support sustainable startups, Singaporean-American tech firm Razer has launched a green fund, as well as the #GoGreenWithRazer initiative, a 10-year sustainability plan that entails caring for the environment, employing 100% renewable energy by 2025 and meeting 100% carbon neutrality by 2030.

Through its new fund, the company made its first green investment in Singapore-based Bambooloo, which aims to provide consumers with sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to toilet paper, face tissues and kitchen towels.

Back in January, Bambooloo secured over US$250,000 through equity crowdfunding with over 193 investors from the U.K. and Singapore supporting the startup on Seedrs, with investors receiving a minority stake of 7.43% at a pre-money valuation of US$3.1M.

According to a recent report, in 2019 the global toilet paper market size stood at US$26.14 billion, and it’s expected to reach US$38.34 billion by 2027. In Asia-Pacific alone, the industry is valued at US$9.55 billion as of 2019 with Singapore accounting for a monthly demand of around 28 million rolls each month, which accounts for a shocking five rolls per person.

This level of toilet paper consumption has devastating environmental impacts, causing 15% of global deforestation. Producing just one roll of wood pulp toilet paper demands 140 litres of water and 440 grams of carbon.

Bambooloo, which is owned and operated by the award-winning company The Nurturing Co (TNC), is working to fight this, with a mission to tackle both the waste problem and the climate crisis by offering toilet paper made from bamboo, aka the fastest growing material in the world. Crucially bamboo, a type of evergreen perennial flowering grass native to the Asian region, stores carbon in the root unlike other trees that store it in their bark, meaning that once it is cut down, it doesn’t release any carbon in the atmosphere.

In addition to using a regenerative, low carbon source material, Bambooloo also claims to use 90% less water and 70% less carbon than its conventional counterpart to create its 100% plastic-free end products. According to the company, should a family of four shift to the brand’s toilet paper, they can save over 30,000 liters of water every year, close to 74,000 grams of carbon and more than 65 sqm of plastic.

In addition to this, with every roll that it sells, the company helps to clean plastic from the oceans through its agreement with ocean clean-up firm Seven Clean Seas.

As part of the fund’s investment, Bambooloo will be supplying its toilet paper to Razer’s global offices including its upcoming Southeast Asian headquarters and its Malaysian office.

In a press release seen by Green Queen, CEO and co-Founder at Razer Min-Liang Ta said that Razer has been working to drive several environmental efforts to protect the world for “future generations to game in”. “We are now looking forward to working with Bambooloo, who have gone above and beyond to protect the planet by making plastic-free bamboo toilet paper readily accessible to the masses. We are excited to have met such like-minded partners and are confident that more budding conservation startups will step up to the playing field.”

Our own internal mantra of “lean on and learn from” means we can gain in real-time from the prior experiences of the various Razer teams across the world in building D2C business models, and growing at pace. In turn, we hope they will feel able to lean on and learn from our experiences in the sustainable and environmental sector, as a part of their own evolution to a greener future

David Ward, CEO and founder of The Nurturing Co

CEO and founder of The Nurturing Co David Ward said: “We are extremely excited to have Razer join us as a strategic investor at a pivotal time for their own green journey. With their help and engagement, we can continue the overseas expansion of Bambooloo, led by our best-selling toilet roll and kitchen roll. This new investment will allow us to extend our market launch in the UK and help us begin our first steps in the United States.”

Furthermore, the companies will work together to help scale up their businesses with Razor looking to invest in more sustainable startups that focus on clean energy, carbon solutions and plastic solutions.

“Our own internal mantra of “lean on and learn from” means we can gain in real-time from the prior experiences of the various Razer teams across the world in building D2C business models, and growing at pace. In turn, we hope they will feel able to lean on and learn from our experiences in the sustainable and environmental sector, as a part of their own evolution to a greener future. Even as our business is growing very well, more than 90% of the global hygiene paper market is still held by giant multinationals who are continuing to chop down over 27,000 trees a day to fuel their various supply chains for wood pulp toilet paper. We have to look at the issue from another perspective in order to address today’s consumer needs for tomorrow,” added David Ward.

Even as our business is growing very well, more than 90% of the global hygiene paper market is still held by giant multinationals who are continuing to chop down over 27,000 trees a day to fuel their various supply chains for wood pulp toilet paper. We have to look at the issue from another perspective in order to address today’s consumer needs for tomorrow

David Ward, CEO and founder of The Nurturing Co

The #GoGreenWithRazer initiative further includes the Sneki Snek Campaign where the company joined forces with Conservation International to protect 1 million trees, and the limited-edition Kanagawa Wave Apparel collection that is created out of marine plastics

Lead image courtesy of The Nurturing Co.