The Dallas billionaire invested an undisclosed amount of money in Cloud Paper, a Seattle-based startup that produces tree-free toilet paper in efforts to end deforestation from traditional paper products. Cuban, along with a slew of other celebrity investors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher and Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, to name a few, have all contributed to a $3 million funding round led by venture capital firm Greycroft.
“I think it’s a great product on the right mission!” Cuban said in an email to Dallas CultureMap.
According to Geekwire, Cloud Paper has seen an 800% increase in signups for its sustainable toilet tissue since its founding in 2019. The three-ply toilet paper is made from 100% “ultra soft” bamboo, utilizes 100% plastic free, recyclable and compostable packaging and ships directly to consumers’ doors via the company’s subscription service. Toilet paper and paper towels contribute to 20% of global deforestation (the equivalent of 40,000 trees cut down per day), according to Cloud Paper’s website. The company claims that the perks of using bamboo over traditional tree-based paper is that is absorbs significant amounts of carbon during its growth, does not need to be replanted after harvesting (as it will continue to grow) and that the use of bamboo TP generates at least 30% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to tree-based toilet paper.
This isn’t Cuban’s first foray into the fight against climate change. After the U.S. pulled out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, Cuban said any “reasonable person” would want to find a solution for climate change, and in an effort to offset the team’s carbon emissions from corporate travel, Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks teamed up with the Carbonfund.org Foundation last year. He’s also invested in a solar energy company called Grouphug on his ABC show “Shark Tank.”
